Another “clásico” coming up after the two week international break, and already the two forward lines are getting in to gear! On Wednesday Barcelona’s “MSN” got a goal apiece (albeit in reverse order – Neymar-Suárez-Messi!) in a 3-1 Champions League victory over Arsenal, and on Sunday it was the turn of Real Madrid’s “BBC” to get on the scoresheet, Benzema, Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo helping their side to a 4-0 victory over Sevilla. Barça’s win takes them into the quarter finals for the ninth season in a row, where they will unfortunately meet Atlético Madrid, who survived an epic penalty shoot out against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday. Meanwhile three La Liga sides made it through to the last eight of the Europa League, Valencia the only ones to fail after they were beaten on the away goal rule by fellow Spaniards Athletic Bilbao. The Ches had overturned Athletic’s first leg lead with strikes by Santi Mina and Aderlan Santos, but the old warhorse Aduríz popped up again for the winner. That was his eighth in the competition this season, and it earned him a place in Del Bosque’s side for Spain’s upcoming friendly games. Not bad for a 35 year old, whose only cap came six years ago! Elsewhere Villarreal qualified for the quarter finals after a 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen, and defending champions Sevilla cruised through 3-0 against Basel, with two from Gameiro after Rami had opened the scoring.

Back to the league, and Barça were pegged back to a 2-2 draw at Villarreal, a Rakitic goal and a controversial Neymar penalty cancelled out in the second half by a strike from Bakambu and a Mathieu own goal. They are now nine points clear at the top though after Atlético lost 2-1 at Sporting Gijón, an early Griezmann free kick overturned by goals from Sanabria and Carlos Castro. Four teams are fighting it out for the one remaining Champions League spot and the two Europa League places, Celta the big winners this weekend after a 0-2 victory at Valencia, with Guidetti amongst the scorers. Athletic drop to seventh however after they lost 2-1 at Espanyol, Caicedo getting a much needed winner for the Catalans. Eibar are just about safe after Borja Bastón saved them a point in a 1-1 draw at Getafe on Friday, and Las Palmas are moving clear of the danger zone after they beat Real Sociedad 0-1, Willian José the scorer there. That leaves five teams struggling to avoid the three relegation spots, including Granada and Rayo Vallecano, who edged ahead of the other three after a 2-2 draw on Saturday. The Andalusians will rue a wasted opportunity though, as El-Arabi put them in front twice, the second from the penalty spot, and the visitors saved the draw with three minutes to go! (22.03.16)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 26 5 12 43 (2)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 28 0 13 41 (8)
Messi (Barcelona) 22 6 9 37 (4)
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 17 6 8 31 (3)
Neymar (Barcelona) 21 3 3 27 (5)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 20 0 4 24 (0)
Griezmann (Atlético) 17 3 4 24 (1)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 13 3 5 21 (5)
Borja Bastón (Eibar) 17 1 0 18 (2)
Bakambu (Villarreal) 11 1 5 17 (0)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 15 0 0 15 (2)
Lucas Pérez (Deportivo) 15 0 0 15 (1)
Bale (Real Madrid) 15 0 0 15 (0)
Iago Aspas (Celta) 11 4 0 15 (0)
Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) 13 0 0 13 (0)
Guidetti (Celta) 7 5 0 12 (2)
Williams (Athletic) 7 3 2 12 (0)
Sanabria (Sporting) 11 0 0 11 (1)
El-Arabi (Granada) 10 1 0 11 (4)
Alcácer (Valencia) 9 2 0 11 (2)
Negredo (Valencia) 4 5 2 11 (2)
Charles (Málaga) 10 0 0 10 (0)
Nolito (Celta) 9 0 0 9 (1)
Deyverson (Levante) 9 0 0 9 (0)
Javi Guerra (Rayo) 9 0 0 9 (0)
Jozabed (Rayo) 9 0 0 9 (0)
Willian José (Las Palmas) 8 1 0 9 (0)
Caicedo (Espanyol) 7 2 0 9 (0)
Parejo (Valencia) 6 1 2 9 (3)
Banega (Sevilla) 5 1 3 9 (3)