Barcelona and Real Madrid both clocked up comfortable wins in the midweek round of games to maintain the status quo at the top of the table. Luis Enrique’s side hit Getafe for six on Tuesday evening, Messi and Luis Suárez netting two each and Neymar and Xavi also on the scoresheet (the famous “MSN” front three have now scored 102 goals between them in all club competitions this season!). And Madrid winning 3-0 against Almería on Wednesday, with James amongst the scorers. Messi moves to within one of Cristiano Ronaldo, whose frustrations after three games without scoring were evident as he refused to celebrate the strike by Arbeloa, who he felt had robbed him of his glory by getting to the ball first to score the third goal!

Meanwhile Fernando Torres kept Atlético in third place with a strike at Villarreal which brought back memories of the Torres of old, and a brace by Bacca at Eibar took Sevilla level with fourth placed Valencia. The Ches could only draw 1-1 at Rayo Vallecano on Thursday, Dani Parejo at least saving them a point with a well struck free kick.

The top five are moving out of sight of the rest, but there is a real bun-fight for the remaining European spots, with five or six teams in the mix. Athletic are now level with seventh placed Málaga, Aduríz converting a penalty in a 1-1 draw against old rivals Real Sociedad, and Celta move to within two points of them both after beating the Andalusians 1-0, Nolito getting the only goal with just two minutes to go. Espanyol joined Celta on 45 points as well after a 1-2 win at struggling Granada, with Sergio García on target there.

Elsewhere Levante and Elche are moving towards safety, Barral scoring the winner for the former against bottom club Córdoba, and Jonathas netting the first of four for the latter against relegation rivals Deportivo. (01.05.15)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 39 1 10 50 (11)
Messi (Barcelona) 38 3 8 49 (6)
Neymar (Barcelona) 20 6 6 32 (0)
Griezmann (Atlético) 22 1 2 25 (0)
Bacca (Sevilla) 19 1 4 24 (6)
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 15 5 3 23 (5)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 15 0 7 22 (0)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 13 2 6 21 (0)
Mandzukic (Atlético) 12 3 5 20 (3)
Vietto (Villarreal) 12 0 8 20 (0)
Bale (Real Madrid) 13 0 4 17 (1)
Bueno (Rayo Vallecano) 16 0 0 16 (2)
James (Real Madrid) 12 3 1 16 (0)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 7 5 3 15 (3)
Gerard Moreno (Villarreal) 5 5 4 14 (0)
Sergio García (Espanyol) 12 1 0 13 (2)
Larrivey (Celta) 11 1 0 12 (0)
Barral (Levante) 10 2 0 12 (2)
Caicedo (Espanyol) 9 3 0 12 (0)
Stuani (Espanyol) 9 3 0 12 (2)
Nolito (Celta) 11 0 0 11 (3)
Jonathas (Elche) 11 0 0 11 (0)
Dani Parejo (Valencia) 11 0 0 11 (3)
Alcácer (Valencia) 8 3 0 11 (0)
Pedro (Barcelona) 5 5 0 10 (1)
Raúl García (Atlético) 5 3 2 10 (4)
Aspas (Sevilla) 2 7 1 10 (1)