Wins for both Spanish teams in Tuesday night’s Champions League fixtures, Rakitic scoring twice as Barcelona won 0-2 at BATE Borisov, and Feghouli on target as Valencia beat KAA Gent 2-1. Real Madrid could only draw 0-0 at Paris Saint Germain on Wednesday, albeit that they stay top of their group, but Atlético clocked up an easy 4-0 victory over Kazakhstan’s Astana, Jackson Martínez finally getting his first goal in the Calderón stadium, and Saúl, Oliver and an own goal completing the scoring. Sevilla were the only ones to lose, although they put up a brave performance at Manchester City, Konoplyanka giving them hope before the Premier League side came back to win 2-1 in injury time. Thursday saw both La Liga teams produce strong performances as well, Athletic winning 0-2 at erstwhile leaders Partizan Belgrade, with strikes from Raúl García and Beñat, and Villarreal tonking Dinamo Minsk 4-0, Bakambu returning from injury to get the first two, and Soldado and Eric Bailly adding the others after the break.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are neck-and-neck at the top of the league table after the weekend matches, Madrid bringing last week’s joint leaders Celta down to Earth with a 1-3 win in the Balaidos stadium on Saturday, and Barça beating Eibar 3-1 the following day. Ronaldo, Danilo and Marcelo got the goals for Benítez’s team, with Nolito replying for the Galicians, and Luis Suárez helped himself to a hat-trick in the Nou Camp, even though Borja Bastón put the visitors in front with his sixth in five games. Atlético meanwhile jump over Celta to third after a 2-1 victory over Valencia, Jackson (now that his eye’s in) and Carrasco putting Simeone’s team two up before Paco Alcácer got one back from the penalty spot.

Sevilla bounced back from that midweek defeat with the biggest win of the weekend, Gameiro scoring a hat-trick, including one of three second-half penalties, in a 5-0 win over Getafe. Banega and Konoplyanka converted the other two spot-kicks. The Andalusians move up to eighth, level on points with three teams, including Valencia, Espanyol, and city neighbours Betis, who saved a draw at Granada thanks to a Rubén Castro penalty. Espanyol though were beaten 3-0 by Rayo Vallecano on Friday night, Javi Guerra scoring the last two in as many minutes midway through the second half to take his tally for the season to seven. Good wins for the other two Basque sides as well, Real Sociedad scoring four at Levante to signal the end for Lucas Alcaráz, Agirretxe amongst the scorers and Carlos Vela netting twice there, and Athletic beat Sporting 3-0 on Monday night, Susaeta starting things off, and Aduríz adding two more either side of half time to increase his lead at the top of our “Pichichi” chart. Eat your hearts out Messi and Ronaldo! (27.10.15)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 7 4 3 14 (1)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 7 0 5 12 (3)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 7 0 3 10 (0)
Neymar (Barcelona) 8 0 0 8 (3)
Nolito (Celta) 7 0 0 7 (1)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 6 0 1 7 (0)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 5 0 2 7 (3)
Borja Bastón (Eibar) 6 0 0 6 (0)
Javi Guerra (Rayo) 6 0 0 6 (0)
Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) 6 0 0 6 (0)
Griezmann (Atlético) 4 0 2 6 (0)
Messi (Barcelona) 3 1 2 6 (1)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 5 0 0 5 (1)
Lucas Pérez (Deportivo) 5 0 0 5 (0)
Bakambu (Villarreal) 3 0 2 5 (0)
Konoplyanka (Sevilla) 2 0 3 5 (1)
Iago Aspas (Celta) 4 0 0 4 (0)
Baptistao (Villarreal) 2 0 2 4 (0)
Orellana (Celta) 3 0 0 3 (1)
Caicedo (Espanyol) 3 0 0 3 (0)
Scepovic (Getafe) 3 0 0 3 (0)
Charles (Málaga) 3 0 0 3 (0)
Susaeta (Athletic) 2 0 1 3 (0)
Jackson (Atlético) 2 0 1 3 (0)
Parejo (Valencia) 2 0 1 3 (1)
Soldado (Villarreal) 2 0 1 3 (0)
Banega (Sevilla) 1 0 2 3 (2)
Feghouli (Valencia) 0 0 3 3 (0)