Again only one goal in the two Champions League matches involving Spanish sides, but again it was of the utmost importance, Benzema’s early strike giving Real Madrid a 1-0 advantage over Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich going in to next Tuesday’s semi-final second leg. Atlético Madrid were held to a 0-0 draw by José Mourinho’s Chelsea the day before, but the two teams from the capital both have a good chance of making it to the final. What a game that would be! In the Europa League we already have a clash between two of our sides at the semi-final stage, Sevilla getting the edge over Valencia with a 2-0 first leg victory. M’Bia and Bacca got the goals in that one, but whoever wins in the end we are at least assured one place in the final this year.

A thrilling weekend again as we close up on the end of the season, with all three top teams winning to keep up the race for the title. Real Madrid were first up on Saturday, Ronaldo scoring from two impressive strikes in a 4-0 win over Osasuna to reach the thirty goal target yet again. However a Raúl García header gave leaders Atlético Madrid a 0-1 victory at Valencia on Sunday, and later in the evening Barcelona came back from two down against Villarreal to win 2-3, Messi getting the winner late on to dedicate the victory to the recently deceased Tito Vilanova.

Athletic Bilbao are looking good for fourth place after they beat their closest rivals Sevilla 3-1, Gameiro’s late strike scant consolation for the Andalusians, and Real Sociedad close to within two points of Unai Emery’s side after they won 0-1 at Betis, a Carlos Vela penalty ensuring that their opponents finish bottom of the table this year, even though there are three games still to go. Some six teams are still fighting to avoid the last two relegation spots, although Rayo Vallecano and Celta are now safe, the former winning 0-3 at Granada with Larrivey amongst the scorers, and the latter beating Valladolid 4-1 on Monday night, Nolito helping himself to two of the goals. ( 29.04.14)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 30 3 14 47 (9)
Messi (Barcelona) 27 5 8 40 (8)
Diego Costa (Atlético) 27 1 7 35 (5)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 16 2 5 23 (0)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 15 0 6 21 (2)
Bacca (Sevilla) 14 0 7 21 (1)
Griezmann (Real Sociedad) 16 3 1 20 (0)
Bale (Real Madrid) 14 1 5 20 (0)
Alexis (Barcelona) 17 2 0 19 (0)
Pedro (Barcelona) 15 3 1 19 (0)
Vela (Real Sociedad) 14 2 3 19 (2)
Aduríz Athletic) 16 2 0 18 (2)
Raúl García (Atlético) 9 4 4 17 (0)
Villa (Atlético Madrid) 13 2 0 15 (1)
Rakitic (Sevilla) 12 0 3 15 (5)
Neymar (Barcelona) 9 2 4 15 (1)
Javi Guerra (Valladolid) 13 1 0 14 (0)
Paco Alcácer (Valencia) 6 1 7 14 (0)
Sergio García (Espanyol) 12 1 0 13 (5)
Fàbregas (Barcelona) 8 4 1 13 (3)
Nolito (Celta) 12 0 0 12 (2)
El-Arabi (Granada) 12 0 0 12 (1)
Oriol Riera (Osasuna) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Larrivey (Rayo Vallecano) 12 0 0 12 (3)
Uche (Villarreal) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Bueno (Rayo Vallecano) 11 1 0 12 (0)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 9 1 2 12 (0)