by Despite all the troubles off the pitch, nothing can slow down Barcelona’s title fight in Spain, even with Xavi watching from the sideline-banned stands.
“I hated it and I will not protest in front of the referees again,” he promised after the 1-0 win over Valencia.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, have been terrible since they massacred Liverpool at Anfield and Carlo Ancelotti started looking like a coach ending his second spell at the club.
The real star of the weekend, however, was Diego Simeone – love or loathe the way his teams play, with a record 613 games against the same club, there’s no arguing. His players made him proud, scoring six goals against Sevilla, who are still suffering from Lopetegui.
Here are ten Sportsmail things we’ve learned from La Liga.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid are nine points behind LaLiga leaders Barcelona
Ancelotti is headed for season two syndrome again
Carlo has a history of poor second campaigns. He was released in his second year at Parma in 1998. The same fate befell him at Juventus.
He left at the end of his second year at Paris Saint Germain and Chelsea.
In 2015, there was a repeat at Real Madrid when they failed to win the Champions League in the previous season.
Real Madrid are now nine points off pace and their coach is sometimes out of ideas when Madrid are in trouble.
Since beating Liverpool, they have played three games and scored just one goal.
613 is a magic number
Diego Simeone was given the shirt with this number on the back before kick-off against Sevilla.
This was to mean that he overtook Luis Aragones to become the coach who had led Atletico Madrid for more matches than any other.
A 6-1 win meant the team scored 1,004 goals in their 613 games, while Aragon’s 612 games netted 1,000 – who said Simeone is always negative?
Diego Simeone’s record 613th game for Atletico Madrid fell before kick-off
Memphis another Barca gift
Okay, so he won’t win the league with them the way Luis Suarez and David Villa did, but Memphis Depay will sign for free this summer after a loan spell from Barcelona and looks set to play for Atletico Madrid.
Scored two great goals in three minutes as Sevilla crumbled. His second goal was the number 1,000 under Simeone for Atlético.
Antoine Griezmann was brilliant again, scoring the third goal and celebrating with his boss.
In Lopetegui’s shadow, the Sampaoli numbers don’t add up
How to line up with 5-4-1 and overtake six? Jorge Sampaoli was asked about his future after the match.
“It’s the club’s decision,” he said. Sevilla have the third-worst defensive record in La Liga – last season they were the best.
Julen Lopetegui seems to be a better coach every week.
Jorge Sampaola’s future as Sevilla coach looks uncertain after 6-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid
Boring boring Barca heading for the title
They beat Real Madrid with 35 per cent of the ball in a week, and held on to Sunday with their eighth 1-0 league win of the season, their tenth in total.
It wasn’t pretty, but it will come in handy especially with 10 players after Ronald Araujo was sent off in the middle of the second half.
Let them argue about style – no one can argue about leading Barça to the top.
If they beat Real Madrid in two weeks, the difference could be 12 points out of 12 matches left.
We will miss Camp Nou
On Sunday, 89,644 spectators gathered in the old stadium and Barcelona moved up the top of the table by nine points.
Next season, 39644 will not be able to watch the team move to the smaller Olympic Stadium and renovate the Camp Nou.
It will take at least a year and a half and hurt the club and the team.
Barcelona will miss the Camp Nou as the stadium undergoes refurbishment throughout next season
Ansu Fati’s bad luck is over
He blocked a shot from Franck Kessi’s goal during the week and then had to apologize to his teammate. On Sunday, he wanted to take a penalty that would have doubled Barcelona’s lead over Valencia.
There was an altercation with Ferran Torres, who had been designated before the game as the penalty taker. When the former Manchester City striker retired and then missed a penalty, Ansu played his best spell of the match, hitting the post.
The purple patch has been shortened because Xavi took it off – he just can’t rest at the moment.
Ansu Fati tried to take a penalty during Barcelona’s 1-0 win over Valencia on Sunday
Athletic Bilbao is still a factory of goalkeepers
With their policy of only signing Basques, Athletic have to produce young players in every position to fill the squad.
For several years they have not been able to find a central striker, but with goalkeepers there is no problem.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, Alex Remiro and Unai Simon have come through their academy in recent years. Remiro is now at Real Sociedad and Kepa Arrizabalaga at Chelsea.
With Unai Simon injured, Julen Agirrezabala had to cut Rayo Vallecano on Sunday and the 22-year-old was brilliant at 0-0.
Julen Agirrezabala impresses with a goal for Athletic Bilbao, replacing Unai Simon
Pellegrini still has spring in the step
The 69-year-old Chilean coach played 100 matches over the weekend in charge of Betis in La Liga.
Despite the absence of the injured Nabil Fekir and Sergio Canales, his team took a point away from Real Madrid and stayed in the race for fourth place.
He returns to Manchester this week, still at the top of his game despite the years.
The Reading Boye striker should not be leaving Elche
Forward Journeyman Lucas Boye has played in Greece, Italy, Spain and Reading since leaving his native Argentina.
He never scored in that short spell in England, but he lost Elche’s best player and someone should take him at the end of the season if they are relegated.
They remain bottom but his superb volley gave them their first away win on Saturday, taking them to 12 points.
Lucas Boye has been Elche’s best player this season as the club battled relegation
