Spanish La Liga 2011, Week 9: Espanyol Edge Real Betis; Athletic Thump Atletico Madrid 3-0

Di Maria scored the third himself, showing off some spectacular speed to blow by the Villarreal defense on the counter-attack, running onto a Benzema through ball before placing the ball in the back of the net. After 30 minutes, the match was already over and Real Madrid set the cruise control at just under the speed limit.

We’ll have coverage of all of the mid-week La Liga action in our La Liga Week 9 StoryStream. For more on Los Merengues, visit SB Nation’s Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid and Villarreal blog Villarreal USA. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Days after a heroic draw at the Camp Nou, which saw goalkeeper Javi Varas turn into something of a folk hero, Sevilla had the perfect chance to make another statement with bottom-dwelling Racing Santander coming to town. They didn’t take it, despite being the better side throughout.

Manu headed Sevilla into the lead before the first half had ended, although the hosts probably feel that they deserved more after generating several chances prior to Manu’s opener. They played well to start the second half as well, which made it a bit of a surprise when Racing, who had done approximately nothing but defend all match, struck twice in quick succession.

Sure, Barcelona had 75 percent of the possession, but they didn’t manage to do anything with it. Grenada went down to 10 men in the 53rd minute when Jaime Gomez picked up a second yellow card, then down to nine when Daniel Benitez did the same in stoppage time. Despite their advantage in both numbers and talent, Barcelona were unable to take advantage after Xavi’s free kick.

However, all wins count the same, and the Blaugranas are now top of the table for the time being.

Granada Lineup (4-4-2): Roberto; Nyom, Iñigo, Mainz, Siqueira; Jaime, Mikel Rico, Fran Rico, Dani Benítez; Abel Gómez, Uche

FC Barcelona Lineup (4-3-3): Valdes; Alves, Mascherano, Abidal, Maxwell; Xavi, Busquets, Fabregas; Pedro, Messi, Cuenca

20:00 CET (2:00 PM EST)

The almighty, invincible Barcelona--wounded after a trying draw at home--taking on a recently-promoted bottom feeder? How many goals can you legally score in a match?