Week 32 review & look ahead to Champions League quarter finals

And so Game Week 32 mirrored Game Week 31, at least at the top of the table. The leading trio all recorded wins in the same fashion as the week before: Atlético won by the odd-goal against a tough opponent, Barcelona struggled more than expected before triumphing, with another Messi penalty, and Real Madrid blew away yet another potential banana skin.

A table of the ten players in La Liga to have played the most minutes this season includes seven from Atleti, which just goes to show how well manager Diego Simeone has done with a thinly-stretched squad. Perhaps this statistic is beginning to take its toll on the team, along with a prolonged Champions League run, as Cholo had to do without Diego Costa, Arda Turan, Miranda and Gabi (who was suspended) for his team's third successive 1-0 win, this time against Villarreal. Captain for the day Raúl García nodded home the winner after 14 minutes, and very pleased he looked about it, too. And why the hell not.
Barça beat rock-bottom Real Betis 3-1 in a game that was far more nervy for the Catalans than many would have expected. Messi took two penalties and ended the game with two goals. However, both were not directly from the spot - his second was a tame effort which was saved by former Real 'keeper Antonio Adán. Unfortunately for the man between the sticks, he could only parry the shot straight back into Messi's path, leaving the diminutive Argentine equal second in the Pichichi list with Diego Costa, on 25 goals.
Ronaldo, who leads the standings with a calculator-defying 28 goals, missed the chance to further extend his lead after he was left out of the Real squad altogether for the team's 4-0 win over Real Sociedad due to injury. Di María was also crocked, and los Blancos seemed to be making hard work of the game until former Sociedad midfielder and man of many letters Asier Illarramendi unexpectedly popped up to notch the opener right on half time. Claudio Bravo in the Sociedad goal then punted the ball straight to Bale, who made no mistake from 35 yards just after the hour mark, before Pepe and Álvaro Morata rounded off the scoring in the last five minutes to make the game look far more comfortable than it really was.

Elsewhere, the weird Friday night spot was booked for a six-pointer at the foot of the table, Osasuna coming out on top away at Juegos Mediterráneos against Almería. Los Rojillos clambered out of the relegation zone to the relative safety and warmth of 16th, while Almería remain deep in the proverbial. The only game on Saturday not to feature one of the top three was at Vallecas, where Rayo Vallecano trounced Celta Vigo 3-0, Alberto Bueno bagging a nicely-taken brace. Sunday saw two goal-fests and two not-so-goal-fests; Málaga and Sevilla both winning 4-1 at home in Andalucía against Granada and Espanyol respectively, while Elche beat Getafe 1-0 and the battle of the Vs ended 0-0, Valencia and Valladolid sharing the spoils. Well, those Vs have to look after each other, don't they? The graveyard Monday night spot belongs to Levante and Athletic Bilbao this week. Well, technically I suppose the spot belongs to the sponsors who make sure that games kick off at seemingly the most random times and days, but who are we to quibble, the mere fans and paying punters?

Messi doing footballing last week

Following Saturday's three-point hauls for the leading pack, their attentions turned quickly to the Champions League. Three will become two (at most) this week, as Real look to see out the job against Borussia Dortmund, and the top two in La Liga face off at the Vicente Calderón. The first leg of the all-Spanish quarter final ended 1-1 between Barça and Atleti, and the tie is on a knife edge ahead of Wednesday's return. Atleti would appear to be in the driving seat, playing at home as they are, but they will still be without key players. Diego Costa has returned to training, but it's hard to believe he'll be more than 80% fit. Even so, the man's a bull and would likely cause Barcelona's shaky back-line problems no matter his state of fitness. The magnificently-bearded Arda Turan will be as big a miss should he also not make the game as expected. Howard Webb will be the man shouldering 75% of the blame for whichever team bows out.

Lewa counts his goals last year

Real Madrid look forward to completing their task against football-hipster favourites Dortmund after winning the first leg 3-0. However, they are haunted by the memories of last season's exit to the same team, and one man in particular - Robert Lewandowski. The Pole, now painted as an 'ogre' by Marca, bagged four goals in the first meeting between the sides last season, and is available once more after suspension for Tuesday's game. His shadow looms large over the Madrid side, but los Blancos should be able to see out the result from their advantage in the first leg. CR7 had been predicted to start on the bench, but broke down 20 minutes into training on Monday evening, and is now predicted to miss out entirely.

In news from the other two ties, it has been reported that the PSG players will each receive a bonus of EUR450,000 if they put Chelsea out of the competition, although this will prove slightly harder, despite their 3-1 lead, after it emerged that the Zlatan has picked up an injury and is set for a month on the sidelines. He will no doubt use this time to invent a cure for the common cold and celebrate by repeatedly karate kicking the Pope in the back of the head during Sunday Mass. Probably. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich has apparently sought an apology from both the Mirror and the Sun after the tabloids labelled Bastian Schweinsteiger a pig in the wake of the 1-1 draw between Manchester United and the Bayern machine. The midfielder was sent off following a dive from Rooney, and the two British papers ran headlines calling him a 'dirty Schwein,' in an attempt at language-defying wordplay. All fun and games surely, and no doubt the player will be able to get over the whole name-calling affair if his teammates do the business at home this week.