Perfect weekend for Barcelona

Lionel Messi won his record fifth Ballon D’Or award Sunday, capping a perfect week of FC Barcelona.

After kicking off the weekend with a 4-0 win over Granada, in which Messi scored a hat-trick, Messi and teammate Neymar traveled to Switzerland for the awards ceremony. Both Barcelona players plus Cristiano Ronaldo were the three finalists for the award anointing the best player in the world for the previous year.

Neymar came in third in the voting, Ronaldo second and of course Messi came in first. It’s Messi’s first Ballon D’Or since winning a record four in a row. Ronaldo had won the last two, and has three overall. In his speech, Messi admitted it was, “hard watching Ronaldo from below the past two years.”

Barcelona manager added to the team’s trophy haul by winning Coach of the Year.

Both Barcelona and Real Madrid had four players named to the 2015 World XI squad. For Barça: Messi, Neymar, Dani Alves and Andres Iniesta. For Real: Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric.

A new era begins in Madrid

Zinedine Zidane got his first win as a manager in his first match at the helm of Real Madrid this past weekend. Playing in front of the home crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu, los blancos recorded an emphatic 5-0 win over Deportivo de la Coruña.

Depor has been a thorn in Real Madrid’s side over the years, consistently upsetting the star studded squad on numerous occasions. Indeed, Deportivo is a side that always plays the big teams tough, as evidenced from their matches against Atlético Madrid and Barcelona. Against both teams the Galician side was able to come away with points.

Madrid got back to playing the attacking style they kept hidden during Rafa Benitez’s reign, with Gareth Bale notching a hat-trick and Karim Benzema bookending Bale’s three goals with two of his own.

Atlético Madrid remains in first place

Quietly los rojiblancos maintained their sole possession of first place in the Spanish league, traveling up north to Galicia to play Celta Vigo.

Upstart Celta was not to be taken lightly, as they are fifth and definitely were looking to bring themselves closer to an improbable first place standing. In the end Atleti earned a 2-0 win behind goals from Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco.

Quietly Diego Simeone’s side has played well enough to deserve their lead. Barcelona is two points behind, although they have one less game played. Real Madrid is four points behind in third place.

Photo: Flickr