Despite the best efforts of both Valencia and Malaga, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi showed once again this weekend why their legend will live on long after both have hung up their boots.
Not a week seems to go by without one or the other toppling a record, and this past weekend was a particular case in point.
Each player scored deep into injury time in their respective matches and it’s fair to say that neither strike will go down as one of their best.
However, they were both hugely significant.
In the early kick-off, Barcelona struggled against a superb Los Che, expertly marshalled by manager Nuno Santo.
Luis Suarez’s first-minute opener caught them cold but, after that, Valencia were the better team for long periods.
It took Messi’s intervention to guarantee the points and his 400th official goal for Barcelona meant that he became just the seventh player in history to reach the mark.
Ronaldo went one better. His strike against Malaga saw him become the only player to have ever scored 50 goals in five consecutive seasons.
How do you even start to comprehend such excellence? To try and understand the dedication to their work that keeps both players so far ahead of their contemporaries.
Certainly the notion that both players’ numbers are as a result of La Liga being somehow inferior is pretty ignorant.
Not only are Spanish teams once again ruling the roost in both the Champions and Europa Leagues, but both players continue to score with incredible regularity against the very best teams from any of the top European leagues.
It is only right therefore that these achievements are celebrated rather than dissected by all and sundry for the sole purpose of discrediting them.
Both will, of course, be vital to their respective teams in the run-in and, with a flurry of injuries just this past weekend, Real Madrid may well be looking to Ronaldo to provide the spark to spur them on to silverware.
Gareth Bale’s hamstring injury is untimely, Luka Modric’s second knee concern of the season unfortunate. With Karim Benzema also said to be struggling, Ronaldo’s own role has never been more important.
Simply put, he has to carry on delivering in order for Real to be in a position to usurp their great rivals.
Messi at least has the luxury of Neymar and Suarez also in stunning goalscoring form to balance out the load. 93 goals between the three is the best in Europe this year.
Enjoy them while you can. They won’t be around forever.
— The writer is a freelance journalist and Spanish football expert