It’s a bit like the film “Highlander”, with two immortal foes slogging it out time and time again throughout the ages! Well, that may be going a bit over the top, but Real Madrid and Barcelona are there once again fighting for the league title, with the two currently level, but Madrid having the edge thanks to that game in hand. Zidane’s side left it late for the nth time this season though before beating Valencia 2-1, Marcelo getting the winner after a Dani Parejo free kick had cancelled out the opener from Madrid’s own “immortal”, Cristiano Ronaldo. Later in the evening however Barcelona won 0-3 at city neighbours Espanyol, Luis Suárez ending a five game drought with a brace, and Rakitic netting once in between. Messi “McLeod” only provided the assists this time around!

Atlético meanwhile consolidated third spot with a 0-5 victory at Las Palmas, Gameiro returning after a short injury break to score twice in the first twenty minutes. Sevilla though were beaten 4-2 by Málaga on Monday, Sandro on target for Michel’s side there, and Villarreal are now only five points behind the Andalusians after a 3-1 win against Sporting on Friday, Bakambu finding the net twice after Soldado had started things off. Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad are only one and two points respectively below the Yellow Submarine as well though after they both won as well, Raúl García scoring two for the former at Celta, and Juanmi one for the latter to send Granada down. Eibar are still holding on bravely to their hopes of a place in Europe too, but they remain seven points below their rivals despite a 2-0 win against Leganés, Kike García and Sergi Enrich the names on the scoresheet once again at the Ipurúa stadium. (02.05.17)

Pichichi League Cup ** Europe * Total (Penalties)
Messi (Barcelona) 33 5 11 49 (7)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 26 5 3 34 (0)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 20 1 11 32 (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)
Gameiro (Atlético) 12 2 2 16 (2)
Sandro (Málaga) 13 2 0 15 (0)
Neymar (Barcelona) 9 2 4 15 (4)
Willian José (Real Soc) 12 2 0 14 (3)
Juanmi (Real Sociedad) 10 4 0 14 (0)
Raúl García (Athletic) 10 3 1 14 (3)
Carrasco (Atlético) 10 2 2 14 (0)
Arda Turan (Barcelona) 3 6 4 13 (0)
Gerard Moreno (Espanyol) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Sergi Enrich (Eibar) 11 1 0 12 (0)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 11 0 0 11 (2)
Pedro León (Eibar) 10 1 0 11 (1)
Bakambu (Villarreal) 10 1 0 11 (0)

* Includes Club World Cup
** Includes Spanish Super Cup