Real Madrid found the perfect tonic for their midweek Benayoun blues with a 2-0 win at Espanyol on Saturday.
Espanyol, full of energy and confidence having taken Barça's scalp just last week, fought hard to hold Real till just past the hour mark, but vicious challenge from Román Martínez brought down Guti just outside the box. The whistle blew and Guti dusted himself down and buried the resulting free-kick top left corner.
5 minutes later Raul added another with a trademark first time strike and Madrid had their 10th consecutive league victory in the bag, bringing them to within 4 points of Barcelona, who were to set to play the following day.
Meaning all eyes were fixed on the Calederón stadium Sunday for the mouthwatering tie between Atletico Madrid and league leaders FC Barcelona - a match that was not to disappoint.
The game was end-to-end right from the start, with Kun Agüero almost on the scoresheet within seconds. But it was Henry who broke the deadlock after just 18 minutes with one of those classy curling efforts of his that Arsenal fans so miss right now. Messi then chipped in with his 17th mazy run and goal of the season to make it 2-0.
However, just 2 minutes later Diego Forlan responded with a screaming shot from distance that gave Atléti hope. Hope that Kun Agüero then built upon after he chased down a flick-on and muscled in an equalizer. Henry then dashed it out again with his second goal of the game after good work and an assist from Gudjohnsen, preferred ahead of Hleb in a midfield role. 2-3 Barcelona, with 17 minutes remaining.
Henry was once again at the heart of the action 5 minutes later when he looked to have brought down Sinama Pongolle in the penalty box. But the referee didn’t see it and play continued with Barca pouring forward on the counter-attack.
But play is then stopped, the linesman alerts the referee of the infringement - it's a penalty! Forlan steps up and converts to make it 3-3l and set up a thrilling last 10 minutes in which his strike partner Kun would sneak past Puyol for a last gasp winner to the delight of the Capital. Atletico are back in the Champion's League race, whilst Real are back in with a shot at the title!
La Liga fixtures also churned out a preview of the upcoming Copa del Rey semi final this week with Athletico Bilbao taking on Sevilla on Saturday just a few days before they meet again for the 2nd leg of their cup match.
Sevilla fell behind after 25 minutes to a forceful strike from Gabilondo that Palop couldn’t quite keep out. But two very well taken goals scored either side of half time by Kanoute meant Sevilla mirrored their first leg cup victory over Bilbao.
So as well as aggregate lead they'll now surely have the psychological edge too going into the 2nd leg. The physical edge however will belong to Athletic, as they made their priorities very clear by fielding just one of their first team regulars.
Saturday also saw Oliviera again live up to his billing as the savior of Betis, with his second-half goal rescuing a 2-2 draw for his side. Cazorla had grabbed two early goals for the Yellow Submarines but Sergio Garcia's strike on 42 minutes and then Oliviera's in the 57th minute meant a share of the spoils that keeps Villareal in the Champions League places and Betis out of the drop zone.
A Villa-less Valencia (out due to suspension) meanwhile continued their miserable run of form going down 2 goals to one at home to Vallodolid. Fortunately for them Malaga- level on points- also slipped up at home, losing 2-0 to Recreativo, with Camuñas continuing his impressive season by scoring the first and setting up the second - albeit against 10 man opposition with Lolo having been dismissed for an elbow.
Come back kings Almeria did it again, but for once with all 11 players still on the pitch. This time the ever so impressive Negredo was the hero as he scored twice after Gerrón's opener to take Almeria up to 10th and his goal tally to 15.
Elsewhere, Racing fell victim to the 'Rifle' Pandiani whose powerful headed goal just before halftime cancelled out Oscar Serrano's scorching opener. Wide midfielder-Lafita looked lively through-out the Deportivo-Numancia clash, and managed to set up Juan Rodriguez for the winner 15 minutes from time and lastly, Arango's superb free-kick wins shot of the week award and three points for Mallorca in their away match with Sporting Gijon.
And if that didn’t lift their spirits enough ahead of their Copa del Rey clash with Barça on Wednesday then maybe this breaking news story will do- Slyvinho, Alves, Messi and Henry all unable to train today due to minor injuries.
Click here for a video review of all this week's Liga action