Lionel Messi won his fifth FIFA “Balon d’Or” today, and he celebrated before the fact scoring no less than five goals this week! The first two came in a bad-tempered cup tie with Espanyol on Wednesday, with Neymar on the scoresheet as well and Caicedo replying in a 4-1 first leg victory over the city rivals. And on Saturday he clocked up his first hat-trick of the season as Barcelona beat Granada 4-0 in the league, again Neymar the other scorer. Granada were on the wrong end of four more in the cup at Valencia as well, Negredo signalling his return to the fold with three of those, including two penalties. And elsewhere Athletic Bilbao came back from two down to win 3-2 in their cup tie against Villarreal, with Williams and Aduríz getting the first two for the Basque side.

Barça had to settle for second spot at the mid-point of the season though (albeit with a game in hand) after Atlético won 0-2 at Celta in the last game on Sunday, Griezmann getting the opener in a rainy Balaidos stadium. Real Madrid meanwhile got off to a good start under their new coach Zinedine Zidane, a 5-0 victory keeping them in third place, two points below their arch-rivals. Benzema got the first and the last, with Bale helping himself to a hat-trick in-between. Villarreal are only a point behind them though after they beat Sporting Gijón 2-0, Bakambu netting both goals to open up an eight point gap over fifth placed Celta. Eibar are now a point behind the Galicians in sixth position after a 2-1 victory over Espanyol, Borja Bastón getting the winner from the penalty spot, and Sevilla are a point behind them after beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0, Gameiro netting twice, including a penalty, to make it eight home wins on the trot. (11.01.16)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 15 0 11 26 (2)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 14 0 11 25 (6)
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 11 5 6 22 (3)
Neymar (Barcelona) 15 1 2 18 (4)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 14 0 4 18 (0)
Messi (Barcelona) 9 3 6 18 (1)
Griezmann (Atlético) 10 0 4 14 (0)
Lucas Pérez (Deportivo) 12 0 0 12 (1)
Bale (Real Madrid) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Bakambu (Villarreal) 8 1 3 12 (0)
Borja Bastón (Eibar) 10 1 0 11 (1)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 9 0 2 11 (5)
Iago Aspas (Celta) 8 2 0 10 (0)
Javi Guerra (Rayo) 9 0 0 9 (0)
Williams (Athletic) 6 1 2 9 (0)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 8 0 0 8 (2)
Nolito (Celta) 8 0 0 8 (1)
Alcácer (Valencia) 8 0 0 8 (2)
Charles (Málaga) 7 0 0 7 (0)
Caicedo (Espanyol) 5 2 0 7 (0)
Parejo (Valencia) 5 1 1 7 (3)
Sanabria (Sporting) 6 0 0 6 (0)
Raúl García (Athletic) 4 1 1 6 (0)
Bruno (Villarreal) 4 0 2 6 (2)
Soldado (Villarreal) 3 1 2 6 (1)
Banega (Sevilla) 3 0 3 6 (3)
Negredo (Valencia) 1 4 1 6 (2)