sport news 10 THINGS WE LEARNED from LaLiga - Ancelotti has second season syndrome trends now
For all their off-the-field problems nothing can slow Barcelona's title charge in Spain, even with Xavi watching from the stands banned from the touchline.
'I hated it and I won't be protesting to referees anymore', he promised after the 1-0 win over Valencia.
Real Madrid, in contrast, have been awful since their mauling of Liverpool at Anfield and Carlo Ancelotti has started to look like a coach winding down his second spell at the club.
The real star of the weekend though was Diego Simeone - love or loathe the way his teams play, a record breaking 613 games with the same club can't be argued with. His players did him proud scoring six against Sevilla who continue to suffer post-Lopetegui.
Here are Sportsmail's ten things we learned from La Liga.
Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid have now fallen nine points behind LaLiga leaders Barcelona
Ancelotti heading for second season syndrome once more
Carlo has a history of poor second campaigns. He was sacked in his second year at Parma in 1998. He suffered the same fate at Juventus.
He left at the end of his second year at Paris Saint Germain, and at Chelsea.
And there was a repeat at Real Madrid in 2015 when he failed to top winning the Champions League the previous season.
Real Madrid are now nine points off the pace and their coach at times looks low on ideas as Madrid struggle.
Since thrashing Liverpool they have played three and scored just one goal.
613 is the magic number
Diego Simeone was handed a shirt with that number on the back before kick-off against Sevilla.
It was to mark him passing Luis Aragones and becoming the coach to have managed Atletico Madrid for more games than any other.
The 6-1 win that followed meant than in his 613 games the team has scored 1004 goals, in Aragones’ 612 games they managed 1,000 – who says Simeone is always negative?
Diego Simeone's record 613th match in charge of Atletico Madrid was marked before kick-off
Memphis another Barca gift
Okay so he wont win them the league the way that Luis Suarez and David Villa did but Memphis Depay will sign on a free this summer after a loan spell from Barcelona and he looks the part at Atletico Madrid.
He got two brilliant goals inside three minutes as Sevilla crumbled. His second was goal number of 1,000 under Simeone for Atletico.
Antoine Griezmann was also brilliant again, scoring the third and celebrating with his boss.
In Lopetegui’s shadow Sampaoli’s numbers don’t add up
How do you line up with a 5-4-1 and get six put past you? Jorge Sampaoli was asked about his future after the game.
‘That’s for the club to decide,’ he said. Sevilla have the third worst defensive record in La Liga – last season they had the best.
Julen Lopetegui seems a better coach with
