With the season coming to an exciting end, it was time for "the best two players in the World" to shine. And shine they did in the latest mid-week round of matches. On Tuesday night Messi led Barcelona to a 4-1 victory over Tenerife, scoring the first and last goals either side of strikes by Bojan and Pedro. And on Wednesday Cristiano Ronaldo came to the fore after Aduríz had given Mallorca the lead against Real Madrid, netting an impressive first ever hat-trick before Higuaín wrapped things up late on. The two sides remain a point apart with two games to go after rewriting the record books, and all eyes will be on the match between Sevilla and Barcelona this weekend. Barça will not have it easy though after the Andalusians thrashed a poor Racing Santander 1-5 to move up to fourth, Negredo scoring two and Kanouté converting a penalty in the absence of the injured Luis Fabiano. Tchité got a late consolation for the locals.

Valencia made sure of the third automatic Champions League spot though after a 3-1 victory over bottom club Xerez, with Mata scoring a goal either side of half time and David Silva also on the scoresheet to leave their opponents on the brink of relegation. The fourth Champions League place and the first Europa League place will be between Sevilla and Mallorca, but the second Europa League spot is still wide open. Right now though the current incumbents are Getafe despite a 1-1 draw with Sporting, Soldado signalling his recovery from a long injury with a goal from a spectacular overhead kick. Elsewhere Diego Forlán left Valladolid down and out with one of Atlético's three goals, and Pandiani was on target against Deportivo to make sure of another season of first division football for Osasuna. (06.05.10)