Spanish La Liga, Round 22: Barcelona, Real Madrid Victorious

What Sevilla and Malaga failed to do in 90 minutes, Kaka has managed in just 8. The Brazilian had already shown sings of attacking intent early on, and he has just put Real Madrid ahead with a lobely curling effort with his left peg after the ball broke to him in the area. Classy finish from a player who must feel like a winter signing for Mourinho.

But the lead almost lasted only a matter of seconds as Real Sociedad launched a ball into the Real Madrid box and with Iker Casillas flapping, Tamudo really should have scored. He badly miskicked his first effort with his second being saved well by Casillas.

Deary me Luis Fabiano…had that chance fallen to the striker a couple of seasons ago Sevilla would be 1-0 up. Navarro sent over a superb cross but instead of choosing to head the ball into the net, ‘El Fabuloso’ controlled the ball on his chest and took far too long to finish, allowing the defender to get in to clear.

The match is still a scrappy affair, no team has managed to exert any sort of control. And just I type that Rondon twists and turns down the left, sending over a cross for Julio Baptista to crack an effort on goal. Luckily for Sevilla Fernando Navarro was on hand to block the goalbound effort, the ball eventually running through harmlessly to Palop. The match continues at 0-0.

It was all easy for Barcelona at Camp Nou tonight, as they defeated a struggling Atletico Madrid side 3-0 behind a Lionel Messi hat trick. The visitors hardly put up a fight and the 3-0 scoreline, 29% possession, and 15 shots to nine statistic actually flattering Atleti. Barcelona let off the gas considerably in the second half, and Messi managed to find a third goal anyway.

Barcelona have now won a record 15 consecutive games in La Liga, with their only loss of the season coming in Round 2 to Hercules and their last draw coming in Round 6 against Mallorca. Ahead of Real Madrid’s Sunday clash with Real Sociedad, the Blaugranes have a 10 point cushion at the top of La Liga. Thanks to this loss, Atletico Madrid are now seven points outside of Europe, trailing sixth placed Espanyol. They’re much further out of Champions League, with fourth placed Valencia having an 11 point cushion, in addition to a game in hand.

Even in “who cares” mode, the Blaugranes of Barcelona are incredibly dangerous. I’d say that Quique Sanchez Flores and his Atletico Madrid learned that the hard way, but I’ve got a feeling that they already knew. Lionel Messi completed his hat trick, much to the surprise of absolutely no one. It wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as either of his first two goals, but they all count exactly the same. This one was simply a tap-in after a scuffle.

Messi now has 25 goals in La Liga after his hat trick, putting him on an absolutely insane pace for over 40 goals. For the third straight year, Messi is ripping opponents apart and putting up absolutely gaudy numbers. He doesn’t actually seem to have the flash that he’s had in past years, but maybe I’m just totally full of crap because I’m used to it at this point.

La Liga’s marquee match of the weekend features two teams going in completely opposite directions, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. The Blaugranes are currently on a record setting win streak in La Liga, while Atleti appear to be a long distance outside of UEFA Champions League contention, with Europa League even looking slightly out of reach at the moment.

Still, Atletico Madrid have plenty of talent, and it would be ridiculous to assume they can’t right the ship. Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero have world class talent by almost anyone’s standard, David De Gea is one of the best young keepers in Europe, and their defense is average at worst.