Just when you thought Barcelona might be facing the perfect opponent for getting back on their feet, they went from on their knees to lying flat on their faces. Facing a team that is crawling out of a downward spiral of their own in Gary Neville's Valencia, the Catalans gave up three points, losing 2-1.

Not all was negative, as Lionel Messi ended his scoreless drought by scoring Barcelona's only goal. Fellow Argentine Javier Mascherano turned in a fine defensive performance, although it was not enough to keep a cross from deflecting of Ivan Rakitic's foot and into goal. Messi scored his 500th career goal, but it was not enough to compensate for the other two members of the MSN, Luis Suarez and Neymar, playing below their standard yet again. 

With the loss, they are now even on points with Atlético Madrid but still would win the La Liga title based on a head-to-head advantage. 

Manager Luis Enrique is coming under fire as it seems he has not adequately rested his stars for this stretch run, and thus paying the consequences. Most if not all his starters play big minutes for their country as well as Barça, yet his famed attacking trident of Messi, Suarez and Neymar have had barely any rest. This, even whilst Barcelona was carving through the Spanish league easier than a Thanksgiving turkey. 

Speaking of Atlético, los rojiblancos waltzed their way to an easy 3-0 victory in front of their home crowd at Granada's expense. The beloved Fernando Torres continued his top notch form, scoring another goal to compliment Koke and Angel Correa's goals for Diego Simeone's men who suddenly find themselves in first place. Now all they need to do is hope that Barça drops points again and they are fortunate to capitalize. And with Torres somehow rediscovering the form that made him the most expensive Spanish player in history, the latter should not be too difficult.

Further south in the Madrid province, Zinedine Zidane obviously did not follow Luis Enrique's example and rested some of his top players. However he still had two players in Isco and James Rodriguez that could start on any other team in the world. Coincidentally both started and scored after sitting out against Wolfsburg in the Champions League. Los blancos ended their tally at 5-1 after goals from Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Zidane is earning high praise from his players, with many comparing him to his mentor Carlo Ancelotti, who guided Real to La Decima two years ago. With the way he has his edition of Madrid players playing now, he could bring home the Unidecima for Real.

Photo: Flickr/El Renzo