Quite a night in the Spanish football first division. Barça beat the crap out of Levante, 5-1, on goals by Xavi, Messi, and a hat-trick by Eto'o. Ronaldinho looked pretty good; he might be on the way back. Iniesta had another excellent game, and Bojan made a nice goal-scoring pass. Yeah, Levante sucks, they're buried in last place and by far the worst team in the league, but Barcelona showed what it can do. Zambrotta was the only Barça player who wasn't in top shape; he'd better play better than this or I vote we get rid of him.

And they narrowed Real Madrid's lead to two points with thirteen games to go, so suddenly it's a horse race and Barça controls its own destiny, since they still have to play Real Madrid at the Bernabeu with those three points up for grabs.

Madrid choked big-time at home. They didn't play well, creating only four opportunities in the whole game, and they lost to Getafe 0-1, especially embarrassing since Getafe is a low-rent team from suburban Madrid. The American equivalent would be New York losing to Jersey City.

And even more embarrassing: Madrid "scored a goal," but the linesman had blown offsides, so it didn't count; only Raul and Guti noticed for Real, while all the others jumped all over one another to celebrate. Unfortunately for Madrid, the Getafe goalie, Pato Abbondanzieri or however you spell his name, was quick on the uptake, placed the ball, booted it down the field, and it was a five-on-two fast break for Getafe. And they converted it, and it was goodnight, Nurse.