First division sides entered the cup for the first time this week, although most managers opted to rest their key strikers and give a run out to their lesser used players. Barcelona for example (who were actually playing their return leg against Villanovense) left Messi in the stands and kept Neymar and Luis Suárez on the bench, but with Sandro scoring a hat-trick and Munir two more, the big guns were not needed (curiously, neither of the two youngsters had found the net this season up to then). It was the same story in most grounds, and the only high scorers to add to their tallies were Celta’s Iago Aspas, who netted twice, Valencia’s Dani Parejo, who converted a penalty, and Villarreal’s Bakambu, who kept his team’s chances of qualifying alive in a 3-2 defeat at Huesca.

It was back to normal at the weekend though, Luis Suárez joining a list of illustrious Barcelona names which includes Messi, Ronaldo (the fat one that is!), Cruyff and Kubala after scoring for the seventh league game in a row. That was not enough however to prevent the Blaugrana from dropping two points at Valencia, and the two Madrids narrowed the gap on the leaders, Atlético winning 0-2 at Granada with Griezmann on target again, and Real Madrid beating Getafe 4-1, with the “BBC” all featuring on the scoresheet for the first time since April, Benzema getting the first two, and Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo adding two more before the break. A bit of a relief for Rafa Benítez after the problems of the last few days!

Sporting’s Sanabria doresn’t score often, but when he does he does so with style! This weekend he helped himself to a hat-trick against Las Palmas to add to the two he scored in week four, and he comes into our chart for the first time. Elsewhere Bakambu netted a brace for Villarreal to overturn Rayo’s opener, and Agirretxe did likewise for Real Sociedad against neighbours Eibar, Borja Bastón the early scorer for the visitors. Agirretxe’s goals make him the top scoring Spanish player in the league, one ahead of Aduríz and also Lucas Pérez, who found the net for the fifth game in a row as Deportivo drew 1-1 against Sevilla. (08.12.15)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 10 4 6 20 (2)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 13 0 6 19 (1)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 10 0 7 17 (4)
Neymar (Barcelona) 14 0 2 16 (4)
Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) 11 0 0 11 (0)
Griezmann (Atlético) 7 0 4 11 (0)
Lucas Pérez (Deportivo) 10 0 0 10 (0)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 8 0 1 9 (0)
Bakambu (Villarreal) 6 1 2 9 (0)
Messi (Barcelona) 4 1 4 9 (1)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 8 0 0 8 (2)
Nolito (Celta) 8 0 0 8 (1)
Javi Guerra (Rayo) 8 0 0 8 (0)
Iago Aspas (Celta) 6 2 0 8 (0)
Borja Bastón (Eibar) 7 0 0 7 (0)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 5 0 2 7 (3)
Alcácer (Valencia) 6 0 0 6 (2)
Parejo (Valencia) 4 1 1 6 (2)
Williams (Athletic) 4 0 2 6 (0)
Sanabria (Sporting Gijón) 5 0 0 5 (0)
Banega (Sevilla) 2 0 3 5 (3)
Konoplyanka (Sevilla) 2 0 3 5 (1)