European competitions returned this week, with Barcelona and Real Madrid both in action in the Champions League. Barça’s participation is likely to be short lived however after they lost 4-0 at Paris Saint Germain, but Madrid are well placed to go through after they came from a goal down to beat Napoli 3-1, Benzema, Kroos and Casemiro the scorers. On Thursday it was the turn of the Europa League sides, although Villarreal and Celta both lost at home respectively to Roma (0-4) and Shakhtar Donetsk (0-1), and only Athletic found the net, Aduríz and Williams amongst the scorers in a 3-2 victory over APOEL Nicosia.

Zidane rested several key players at the weekend, but Real Madrid still ran out 2-0 winners over Espanyol, Morata taking advantage of a rare start to head the opener, and Bale making it two just minutes after coming on for his first appearance following a long injury lay-off. With two games in hand they remain a point above Barcelona, who struggled to beat Leganés 2-1. Messi got both of the goals, the second from the penalty spot in the last minute. Sevilla stay third though, Sarabia and Vitolo the scorers in a 2-0 victory over Eibar, and Atlético consolidated fourth place with a 1-4 win at Sporting, Carrasco starting things off just a minute in to the second half, and substitute Gameiro helping himself to a hat-trick in a five minute period near the end. Elsewhere Iago Aspas was on target as Celta beat bottom club Osasuna 3-0, the result taking the Galicians safely up to mid-table. (21.02.17)

Pichichi League Cup ** Europe * Total (Penalties)
Messi (Barcelona) 19 5 10 34 (5)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 18 5 2 25 (0)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 14 1 6 21 (5)
Iago Aspas (Celta) 12 2 2 16 (3)
Griezmann (Atlético) 9 4 3 16 (0)
Aduríz (Athletic) 8 1 7 16 (6)
Ben Yedder (Sevilla) 8 5 2 15 (3)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 5 1 7 13 (0)
Arda Turan (Barcelona) 3 6 4 13 (0)
Gameiro (Atlético) 9 2 1 12 (1)
Carrasco (Atlético) 8 2 2 12 (0)
Willian José (Real Soc) 9 2 0 11 (2)
Morata (Real Madrid) 7 2 2 11 (0)
Sergi Enrich (Eibar) 9 1 0 10 (0)
Juanmi (Real Sociedad) 6 4 0 10 (0)
Vietto (Sevilla) 6 3 1 10 (0)
Neymar (Barcelona) 6 2 2 10 (3)
Sandro (Málaga) 7 2 0 9 (0)
Raúl García (Athletic) 5 3 1 9 (1)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 8 0 0 8 (1)
Gerard Moreno (Espanyol) 8 0 0 8 (0)
Pedro León (Eibar) 7 1 0 8 (0)
Sansone (Villarreal) 7 0 1 8 (1)
Sarabia (Sevilla) 6 2 0 8 (1)
Ramos (Real Madrid) 6 1 1 8 (1)
Bale (Real Madrid) 6 0 2 8 (0)

* Includes Club World Cup
** Includes Spanish Super Cup