Spain

Sevilla FC, anyone? Julen Lopetegui’s side is the hottest commodity in Europe not named Manchester City following Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal matchup.  

That’s now eight straight wins in all competitions for Sevilla (four in LaLiga and four in the Copa), results that’ve pushed the side to fourth in the league (just one point behind Barça) and the cusp of the Copa final.

Sevilla could breathe a sigh of relief over the state of their player Lucas Ocampos on Monday after medical tests revealed the attacking midfielder had not suffered any bone or ligament damage to his ankle in Saturday's 3-0 LaLiga win over Getafe.

Sevilla's medical report said Ocampos, who left the pitch on a stretcher screaming in pain after Getafe's Djené Dakonam trod on his ankle, had sustained a grade two sprain to his left ankle as a result of the tackle.

Barcelona winger Francisco Trincão scored his first goal for the club to snatch a 3-2 win away to Real Betis on Sunday as Ronald Koeman's side pulled off a second comeback victory in the space of four days.

Barça coach Ronald Koeman took the surprising decision to leave Lionel Messi and the in-form Frenkie de Jong out of his starting lineup and saw his side fall behind to a Borja Iglesias strike on the counterattack in the 38th minute.

Barcelona racked up 79 percent possession and 36 shots (20 on goal) in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey match against Granada, 29 more shots that the host. The end result was a 5-3 victory that was anything but easy, despite the final score and the wildly mismatched statistics. 

Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann fired Barcelona to a 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao in LaLiga on Sunday, avenging their recent defeat to the Basque side in the Spanish Super Cup final.

Messi curled in a free kick after 20 minutes for his 650th Barça goal on the day the club pledged to sue Spanish newspaper El Mundo for publishing the full details of the Argentine's contract.

Atlético Madrid's Luis Suárez fired in two goals as they thrashed Cádiz 4-2 away in an action-packed game on Sunday to march 10 points clear at the top of LaLiga.

Suarez gave Atléti the lead in the 28th minute with a curling free kick which was cancelled out by Cádiz forward Álvaro Negredo seven minutes later before Saúl Ñíguez restored the visitors' advantage moments before the break.

Just when you thought Barcelona had turned the corner with four straight league wins and a place in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, here comes that nasty debt of $1.42 billion and the ugly realization that the greatest footballer of all-time is headed out the back door again! (Along with another Luis Suárez brace for Atlético.)