Tito Vilanova

The weekend’s action saw Barça – who had uncharacteristically lost three consecutive games – get back to winning ways with a 7-0 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano.  The Catalans kept their dim title hopes alive with goals from Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodríguez both notching braces in the rout. Thiago Alcântara and Seydou Keita also found the back of the net, while Antonio Silva Rober suffered the misfortune of scoring an own goal.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid were in action at midday against Sevilla, where Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 19th minute and while the visitors had chances, they were made to rue wasted opportunities when Karim Benzema finished twice at the back post.

Had Barça lost their late game, Madrid would have been celebrating their first league title in four years. Instead, the party celebrations have been put on ice until the next matchday.

With the race for la liga all but officially wrapped up, the battle for the Pichichi is still neck and neck with both Messi and Ronaldo currently tied on 43 goals.

At the bottom of the table, Racing Santander were the first club to be relegated this season following a 3-0 defeat to Real Sociedad. A double from Antoine Griezmann and a strike from Imanol Agirretxe sealed the fate of the Cantabrian side whose off-the-field problems have proved detrimental to their on-field form.