Last week, Real Madrid moved into sole possession of first place in the Spanish top flight for the first time in over a year. And this was not the week they wanted to give it up again, traveling to Barcelona to take on Catalonia's other team, Espanyol Sunday.

Manager Zindine Zidane decided to rest both of his biggest galaticos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. No matter however, because he still has galaticos on reserve. Out go Ronaldo and Bale, in go James Rodriguez and Marco Asensio. And the Colombian James rewarded Zidane by putting the visitors up 1-0 just before halftime.

James of course was the center of numerous transfer rumors throughout the summer, but in the end Zidane decided he would hold onto him, if only for a bench role. This week, Hames has made Zidane seem like a smart man. He helping break open the scoring in their Champion League match midweek with an assist for Ronaldo.

Karim Benzema added another goal in the 71st minute to seal a nice 2-0 win and maintain their three point lead on Barcelona.

Barcelona seem to be back to their winning ways after a let down last week. They were in Madrid, or at least just south of it to pay another Madrid team a visit, newly promoted Leganes. Leganes were able to surprise Atlético Madrid, earning a tie a couple weeks ago. The home team was not able to duplicate that match's success, losing 1-5.

Barça came out strong, with each member of the MSN contributing to the goal tally. Lio Messi bagged himself a brace, meanwhile Luis Suarez and Neymar each had a goal. Youngster Rafinha added the fifth and final goal in the 64th minute. 

In their last two matches, the Catalan giants have scored 12 goals, with five coming solely from Messi. 

Alético Madrid has a great showing for its fans at the Vicente Calderon stadium over the weekend. In a change from their normal low scoring victories, los rojilancos put away Sporting Gijon 5-0. Antoine Griezemann and Fernando Torres each netted two.

Offseason acquisition Kevin Gameiro added another goal, with the strikers getting their pair of goals on either side of Gameiro's. As such when you have a stud like Greizemann you know coaches will not be shy to toot that horn. And Atleti manager Diego Simeone did just that, saying that his star deserves the Balon D'Or  this year as the world's best player. Hard to argue his year has been better than Ronaldo's although it should be a remains to be seen how we he'll really be.

Photo: Flickr