The two Madrid sides met once again in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday, and once again Real Madrid got the better of Atlético after a 3-0 victory. It was that man Ronaldo who did the damage as ever with his 35 th hat-trick, making it eight in all in his last three European games following the five he put past Bayern Munich. According to his club and the official scorekeepers Marca, that took him on to 400 goals for Madrid, although other sources claim he has one less for a strike which was officially attributed to Pepe some seven years ago. Whatever the case, it’s a shit-load of goals!

Ronaldo was the only La Liga player to score midweek though after Celta fell to a 0-1 defeat against Manchester United in the Europa League, but the Portuguese forward was once again rested at the weekend by Zidane along with many of his team-mates. He wasn’t needed though as the Merengues beat the already relegated Granada 0-4, James and Morata helping themselves to two each with a little over half an hour gone. They still have a game in hand over Barcelona, although the Catalans remain in top spot on goal difference for now after a 4-1 win against Villarreal. The MSN strike force were all on the scoresheet, Messi getting two (including a penalty) and Neymar and Luis Suárez one each to take their joint tally for the season past the hundred mark once again.

Bakambu got one back for the visitors, who hold on to fifth spot after Athletic lost at Alavés, and Real Sociedad drew 1-1 at fourth placed Sevilla. Sarabia got the goal for the Andalusians, but they are now five points adrift of Atlético, who won 1-0 against Eibar. Elsewhere Sandro got his seventh goal in as many games as Málaga beat a depleted Celta 3-0, and Gerard Moreno was on target as Espanyol won 1-2 at Deportivo, the defeat leaving the Galicians teetering on the brink of the drop zone. (09.05.17)

Pichichi League Cup ** Europe * Total (Penalties)
Messi (Barcelona) 35 5 11 51 (8)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 27 5 3 35 (0)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 20 1 14 35 (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) 15 2 3 20 (0)
Ben Yedder (Sevilla) 11 5 2 18 (3)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 9 1 7 17 (0)
Sandro (Málaga) 14 2 0 16 (0)
Gameiro (Atlético) 12 2 2 16 (2)
Neymar (Barcelona) 10 2 4 16 (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)
Gerard Moreno (Espanyol) 13 0 0 13 (0)
Arda Turan (Barcelona) 3 6 4 13 (0)
Sergi Enrich (Eibar) 11 1 0 12 (0)
Bakambu (Villarreal) 11 1 0 12 (0)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 11 0 0 11 (2)
Pedro León (Eibar) 10 1 0 11 (1)
James (Real Madrid) 8 3 0 11 (1)
Sarabia (Sevilla) 8 2 1 11 (1)

* Includes Club World Cup
** Includes Spanish Super Cup