Real Madrid and Barcelona maintained their domination of the Spanish league as both picked up wins at the weekend. Leaders Real were briefly knocked off the top on Saturday as the Catalan giants, inspired by Lionel Messi, beat Villarreal 3-1 at the Neu Camp. However, despite making heavy going of their visit to a late Higuain goal was enough to return Real to the top on Sunday. Villarreal’s defeat at Barcelona widened the gap between themselves and the big two although they remain in third place. Valencia and Sevilla took advantage of Villarreal’s loss to close on them. Valencia beat Getafe 2-0 at home whereas Seville had a last minute Negredo strike to thank for their 2-1 win at Real Zaragoza. Espanyol dropped to sixth after a 0-0 draw at Racing Santander.

Zaragoza’s last minute defeat means that they hold the unwanted bottom spot, a point behind Levante whose defeat to Malaga saw the home side move up and out of the La Liga relegation zone. Almeria’s loss in Bilbao sees them drop into the bottom three.

Dani Alves remains undecided over his future as talks over a new contract at Barcelona continue without any sign of agreement. The 27-year old has been linked with a number of clubs including English Premier League moneybags Chelsea and Manchester City. However, despite his agent insisting he should receive the wage of a player who is ‘the best attacking defender in the world’ Alves is believed to prefer extending his stay in Barcelona as opposed to moving abroad.