Cristiano Ronaldo scored both goals in Real Madrid’s Champions League win over Malmö to match Raúl’s all time club record of 323 goals, a feat he has achieved in only 308 games as opposed to Raúl’s 741! As mentioned in our week 4 report, there is some debate as to whether he has actually beaten the record, as the club and official “Pichichi” award adjudicator Marca have attributed him one more goal than other record keepers, but that really is academic. Ronaldo’s strikes also took him on to 500 career goals for clubs and country, again taking only 753 matches to do so.

Only Messi can match that, but he is currently out for the next two months with a knee injury. In his absence it has been up to Luis Suárez and Neymar to carry the side, and Suárez did just that with a late winner against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday evening. Sergi Roberto also scored in a 2-1 victory, and Feghouli got the only goal for Valencia in a 0-1 win at Olympique Lyon. Sevilla lost 2-0 at Juventus though, and Atlético Madrid were beaten 1-2 by Benfica, Correa’s early goal overturned by the Portuguese side after the break, but even so La Liga teams occupy either first or second place in their respective groups. On Thursday Spain’s two Europa League teams were in action, Leo Baptistao scoring a goal his namesake Leo Messi would have been proud of in 1-0 win over Viktoria Plsen, and Aduríz getting a late consolation for Athletic Bilbao in a 2-1 defeat at AZ Alkmaar. Both have won one and lost one in their first two group games.

Maybe it was the gruelling midweek games which took their toll, but none of the top six sides were able to win at the weekend. Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid drew 1-1 on Sunday, Benzema’s early header cancelled out by a late Vietto strike, and Barcelona were beaten 2-1 by Sevilla the day before, Neymar’s penalty coming too late to save the day. Villarreal stay top despite a 1-0 defeat at bottom club Levante, and Celta and Deportivo could only draw their respective matches.

As a result Eibar and Betis are closing in on the European spots, Borja Bastón getting his fourth goal in three games as the former beat Las Palmas 0-2, and Rubén Castro on target as the latter won 0-2 at Rayo Vallecano. Aduríz still heads up our “Pichichi” table though after he scored again in Athletic’s 3-1 win over Valencia, a result which takes the Basque side out of the drop zone. And Málaga are also out of the bottom three after a 3-1 victory over Real Sociedad, Charles netting a hat-trick for the Andalusians, and Agirretxe replying for the visitors. Javi Gracia’s side actually hadn’t scored at all this season, but as the old adage goes, you wait six weeks for one, and then three come along at once! (05.10.15)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 4 4 3 11 (1)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 5 0 5 10 (3)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 6 0 1 7 (0)
Messi (Barcelona) 3 1 2 6 (1)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 3 0 3 6 (0)
Nolito (Celta) 5 0 0 5 (1)
Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) 5 0 0 5 (0)
Griezmann (Atlético) 3 0 2 5 (0)
Neymar (Barcelona) 4 0 0 4 (1)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Iago Aspas (Celta) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Lucas Pérez (Deportivo) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Borja Bastón (Eibar) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Baptistao (Villarreal) 2 0 2 4 (0)
Charles (Málaga) 3 0 0 3 (0)
Javi Guerra (Rayo) 3 0 0 3 (0)
Bakambu (Villarreal) 3 0 0 3 (0)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 1 0 2 3 (2)
Konoplyanka (Sevilla) 1 0 2 3 (0)