Barcelona fell to their first defeat of the season on Tuesday night, strikes from Messi and Neymar not enough to prevent them from losing 3-2 at Paris Saint Germain in their Champions League tie. Athletic Bilbao also lost 2-1 at BATE Borisov the same day, Aduríz their scorer there. Both Madrid sides won on Wednesday though, a strike by Arda Turan giving Atlético a morale-boosting win over Juventus, and Real Madrid coming back from a goal down to beat Ludogorets 1-2 thanks to a Ronaldo penalty and a goal later on by substitute Benzema. Good results on Thursday as well in the Europa League, Gerard Moreno and Espinosa getting two each as Villarreal beat Apollon 4-0, and M’bia saving a point for Sevilla late on after a Iago Aspas opener had been overturned.

Another high scoring weekend in the league, and although the 37 scored didn’t quite match the record 42 goals of week four, it was quite a tally. Messi and Neymar scored within a minute of each other at Rayo to keep Barcelona at the top, and Valencia are second after beating Atlético 3-1, three early goals winning it for the Ches despite Mandzukic getting one back. Third placed Sevilla hit four against Deportivo, with M’bia scoring two more and Bacca also on target, and Real Madrid are up to fourth after a resounding 5-0 victory over Athletic, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his third hat-trick in fifteen days and Benzema adding two more.

Ronaldo’s thirteen in the seven league games to date (although he actually only played in six) is the highest since Oviedo’s Echeverria netted a best-ever 14 in the 1943/44 season, and he has now scored 22 hat-tricks in the league, equalling the record shared by Di Stéfano and Zarra! Meanwhile back on planet Earth Celta’s Larrivey and Espanyol’s Stuani both scored their fourth of the season, the former a mere consolation as the Galicians lost to Villarreal, but the latter helping the Catalans to a much needed win over Real Sociedad. (06.10.14)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 13 0 4 17 (4)
Neymar (Barcelona) 7 0 1 8 (0)
Messi (Barcelona) 6 0 1 7 (0)
Bacca (Sevilla) 5 0 0 5 (2)
Bale (Real Madrid) 4 0 1 5 (0)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 3 0 2 5 (0)
M`bia (Sevilla) 3 0 2 5 (0)
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 2 0 3 5 (0)
Larrivey (Celta) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Nolito (Celta) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Stuani (Espanyol) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Baptistao (Rayo Vallecano) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Bueno (Rayo Vallecano) 4 0 0 4 (1)
Alcácer (Valencia) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Mandzukic (Atlético Madrid) 2 1 1 4 (0)
Vietto (Villarreal) 2 0 2 4 (0)