Lionel Messi celebrates his hat-trick with his teammates (Reuters)

Barcelona and Real Madrid remain atop the standings in what has developed into a two-horse race. Real Madrid woke up from their first half slumber to beat Sporting Gijon. David Barral opened the scoring for the visitors while Rafael van der Vaart, Xabi Alonso, and Gonzalo Higuaín answered back for Los Merengues.

Barcelona, excuse me Lio Messi continued his unprecedented tear as he scored his eighth goal in the past week. He made it back-to-back hat-tricks in his account as he is currently running away with the Pichichi race and poised to become the first Argentine to win that distinction since Juan Antonio Pizzi back in 1995-96.

Valladolid had the upset of the weekend as they went to Riazor and defeated Deportivo 2-0.

Mallorca continue their incredible form at home and are locked into a Champions League spot after they dismantled Atlético Madrid 4-1 and it seems like Quique Sánchez Flores is on the hot seat with the Madrid derby right around the corner.

Sevilla looked completely pallid against Espanyol at the Cornellà El Prat, a place that is slowly becoming a fortress for Los Periquitos.

Real Madrid 3-1 Sporting
Espanyol 2-0 Sevilla
Osasuna 1-3 Racing
Valencia 2-0 Almería
Deportivo 0-2 Valldolid

Mallorca 4-1 Atlético
Athletic 2-2 Getafe
Málaga 2-1 Villarreal
Xerez 2-1 Tenerife
Zaragoza 2-4 Barcelona

Related Articles

• Olé: What planet did you come from? (ESP)
  


• Daily Mail: The Flea we would all like to have
  


• Soccernet: Forget Rooney, magical Messi is the world's best