Pep Guardiola's Barcelona manage to trump Liverpool’s 5-0 trouncing with a 6-0 victory of their own, whilst Juande Ramos gets the right foot but perhaps the wrong man?
Real Madrid were hoping to pile the pressure on Barcelona with a home win against Almeria that would take them, temporarily at least, to within 3 points of the league leaders.
A top Klaas Jan Huntelaar helped them do just that with yet another brace. The Dutch striker, a January arrival at the Bernabeu, has really made the lead striker role his own with some superb form of late. In fact his 8 goals in the last 6 games have left many Madrileños wondering if perhaps Ramos got it wrong by sacrificing Huntelaar instead of Diarra in their recent ill fated Champions League campaign.
Nevertheless, it was the young Brazilian Marcelo who set Real on their way to victory. The Almeria defence struggled to clear Wesley Sneijder's long range free kick on 23 minutes, then immediatley wished they hadn't, as the impressive Marcelo sent it back with venom to score with a ferocious right-footed drive that stunned the stadium.
All except Juande Ramos that is. Ramos had apparently told the left footed midfielder he'd score with his right beforehand. If only Real president Vincente Boluda had similar forecasting powers.
Barcelona then looked to have a tough game on their hands. Facing strong UEFA contenders Malaga and with Real breathing down their necks, the scene was all set for an upset.
As it turned out the only upset to be witnessed at the Nou Camp on Sunday night was that of Malaga keeper Iñaki Goitia, who despite a string of great stops, mostly at the expense of Lionel Messi, still had to fish the ball from his net 6, yes 6, times.
Barcelona bossed this fixure from the start taking the lead on 19 minutes when Eto'o's precision pass put Xavi through to score.
Henry made it 3 not long after, rounding the keeper to slot the ball in after Xavi's pass had put him clear on goal.
La Liga’s top scorer, Eto'o, put an end to his one month barren spell by nutmegging Goitia for a fourth just before half time. He would add another (his 25th of the season) just 10 minutes later but not before Iniesta's beautifully weighted ball found Dani Alves' darting into the box to place his header past Goitia.
Barça were back to their attacking best then, and perhaps just as well with regular starters Carlos Puyol, Eric Abidal and Gerald Piqué all missing from the defence. Iniesta also had to hobble off the field in the second half and although he should be back for Barça's Champions league clash with Bayern he'll surely miss Spain's two upcoming fixtures.
Meanwhile, Sevilla and Villareal both strenghtened their claims on their Champions League places with home victories.
A cooly taken Kanoute hat-trick and a goal for Luis Fabiano saw Sevilla overcome Vallodolid 4-1. Whilst Santi Cazorla's 8th of the season and a last minute goal for Matias Fernandez gave the yellow submarines a 2-0 win over Athletic Club Bilbao.
Atletico Madrid's 2-0 defeat at Mallorca dealt a heavy blow to their Champions League ambitions and also to their poor defender John Heitinga after he clashed heads with David Navarro in the 1st minute of the second half.
Heitinga spent the night in hospital but was given the all clear this morning with what doctors diagnosed as a slight fracture to his left eye socket. But with Atléti now 5 points adrift of 4th placed Villareal it looks like it was their Champions League prospects that suffered the bigger dent.
Valencia were without pay or a win in two months before yesterday's visit to Racing Santander. Racing of course were unable to field their on-loan talisman Nicola Zigic against his parent club Valencia, but yet were still by far the more dominant side in the first half.
Things got worse for Valencia just one minute into the 2nd half, when their defender Alexis Ruano Delgado received his second yellow card of the match. Valencia somehow continued to resist Racing however, and then just 13 minutes before time, substitute Juan Manuel Mata snuck in to give them the surprise lead.
There was to be one last twist in the tale however as Jonathan Pereira won a last gasp injury time penalty and Oscar Serrano- 2 goal hero last week-hit it firmly towards the top right hand corner, but it rattled off the bar.
Valencia then are back in the Uefa places at least and live to fight another day, but whether those days are numbered or not remains to be seen.
Click here for a video round up of all la liga goals and goings on.
All Results
Deportivo 1 Betis 1
Real Madrid 3 Almería 0
Racing 0 Valencia 1
Numancia 2 Sporting 1
Getafe 2 Recreativo 1
Osasuna 1 Espanyol 0
Barcelona 6 Málaga 0
Mallorca 2 Atlético 0
Villarreal 2 Athletic 0
Sevilla 4 Valladolid 1
League Table
1 Barcelona 69
2 Real Madrid 63
3 Sevilla 54
4 Villarreal 48
5 Atlético 43
6 Valencia 43
7 Deportivo 43
8 Málaga 43
9 Valladolid 39
10 Racing 33
Puesto Equipo Puntos
11 Sporting 33
12 Mallorca 32
13 Almería 31
14 Getafe 31
15 Athletic 31
16 Recreativo 30
17 Betis 30
18 Osasuna 29
19 Numancia 26
20 Espanyol 22