Bale injured, Ronaldo rested, Benzema and Luis Suárez left on the bench, Neymar suspended, but Messi at least played for an hour in the midweek game against Osasuna, long enough to score a couple and lead his side to a 7-1 victory which left the Pamplona based team down in the second division (a special mention by the way to Mascherano, who finally got his first goal for Barcelona after 319 appearances!). If Luis Enrique made five changes to his “clásico” line-up though, Zidane made no less than nine, but his “B” side fared better than their peers, a 2-6 win at Deportivo keeping them on track for a first league title in five years. Morata got the first with less than a minute on the clock (he has now scored more than the man he understudies, Benzema), and Isco was also on the scoresheet as well as they cruised to victory with panache.

Third placed Atlético were surprisingly beaten by Villarreal however, Roberto Soriano scoring for the visitors to consolidate fifth place, and Sevilla have now caught up with Simeone’s team after a 2-1 victory over Celta on Thursday, Ben Yedder getting a late winner after a Iago Aspas penalty had levelled the scores. The battle for the Europa League spots would now appear to be between three teams, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad, Aduríz and Willian José both converting penalties for their respective clubs as all three won. Rubén Castro got one back for Athletic’s opponents Betis, and elsewhere Sandro got two goals for Málaga in their win at Granada, and Gerard Moreno scored Espanyol’s equalizer at Sporting Gijón, both results sinking their opponents further down in the drop zone. (28.04.17)

Pichichi League Cup ** Europe * Total (Penalties)
Messi (Barcelona) 33 5 11 49 (7)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 24 5 3 32 (0)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 19 1 11 31 (7)
Griezmann (Atlético) 16 4 5 25 (1)
Iago Aspas (Celta) 17 2 5 24 (6)
Aduríz (Athletic) 15 1 7 23 (8)
Morata (Real Madrid) 13 2 3 18 (0)
Ben Yedder (Sevilla) 11 5 2 18 (3)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 9 1 7 17 (0)
Neymar (Barcelona) 9 2 4 15 (4)
Sandro (Málaga) 12 2 0 14 (0)
Willian José (Real Soc) 12 2 0 14 (3)
Carrasco (Atlético) 10 2 2 14 (0)
Gameiro (Atlético) 10 2 2 14 (2)
Juanmi (Real Sociedad) 9 4 0 13 (0)
Arda Turan (Barcelona) 3 6 4 13 (0)
Gerard Moreno (Espanyol) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Raúl García (Athletic) 8 3 1 12 (3)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 11 0 0 11 (2)
Pedro León (Eibar) 10 1 0 11 (1)
Sergi Enrich (Eibar) 10 1 0 11 (0)
Piatti (Espanyol) 10 0 0 10 (1)
Boateng (Las Palmas) 10 0 0 10 (0)
Sergio León (Osasuna) 10 0 0 10 (1)
Isco (Real Madrid) 10 0 0 10 (0)
Roberto Soriano (Villarreal) 9 1 0 10 (0)
Sarabia (Sevilla) 7 2 1 10 (1)
Ramos (Real Madrid) 7 1 2 10 (1)
Vietto (Sevilla) 6 3 1 10 (0)

* Includes Club World Cup
** Includes Spanish Super Cup