Barcelona picked up where they left off and Deportivo claimed a shock win at Athletic Bilbao as Spain's La Liga returned from a winter break.

Champions Barcelona took advantage of Real Madrid's inactivity on Sunday by beat Levante with a 2-1 win at Camp Nou. Pedro was the hero with a goal either side of half-time, but a stunning volley from Christian Stuani sparked a late fightback from the visitors.

Barcelona picked up where they left off and Deportivo claimed a shock win at Athletic Bilbao as Spain's La Liga returned from a winter break.

Champions Barcelona took advantage of Real Madrid's inactivity on Sunday by beat Levante with a 2-1 win at Camp Nou. Pedro was the hero with a goal either side of half-time, but a stunning volley from Christian Stuani sparked a late fightback from the visitors.

Eric Abidal scored Barcelona's goal against Athletic Bilbao

The Copa del Rey round of 16 has been completed on Thursday night and for the big names such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Villarreal CF, Deportivo La Coruña and Sevilla FC progress to the quarter-final has been assured. Last season's finalists Atlético Madrid also went through eliminating Espanyol in the process.

Jose Mourinho el mejor entrenador del año 2010 según la FIFA, si y ademas es el mas polemico de todos, se que muchos brincaron de alegria al saber que ¨the special one¨ recibio el galardon de la FIFA,si los numeros lo avalan,pero los exabruptos y encuentros con rivales y prensa no tienen precio,simplemente este fin de semana tuvo un pequeño encunetro con la banca del Villareal, desplante que no tuvo contra el Barcelona despues de recibir la peor humillación de su vida al recibir 5 goles del Barcelona y un baile que ya quisieran muchas quinceañeras.

FC Barcelona Beat Real betis 5-0 in Copa Del Rey Quarter Final first Leg

The newly crowned FIFA-Balon D'Or World Player of Year, Lionel Messi celebrated his scuccess in grand style scoring a hat-trick in the first leg of Copa Del Rey quarter final clash against Real Betis. The scoreline would give us an impression of a very easy outing, but it wasn't that easy.

A quick update from the AFR Team's player-manager Eric Beard

By the time you read this I will likely be on my way to the airport en route to the land of the Camp Nou, Dali, Gaudi, and everything else generically tied to the capital of Catalunya. From tomorrow until the end of May I will be trying to discover the secrets to Pep Guardiola's genius studying abroad, learning Spanish & Catalan, traveling, and watching a good bit of the footy.

He may not have left the Camp Nou to a standing ovation, he may not be the best-paid player in the world, and he may not have totally fulfilled the promise he had. However, Andres D'Alessandro -- a one-time prodigy -- was voted Best Player In The Americas for his performances for Brazil's Internacional by the prestigious Uruguayan El Pais.

Levante could be the perfect team to start another wonderful year in the right way. The last match Levante played was against Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey, and that did end up with an 8-0 drubbing. Lionel Messi is not available for this match, but I don't think that is going to bother anyone.

Real Madrid lost 0-5 to Barcelona at the Camp Nou. To many people Barcelona humiliated Real Madrid. Mauled Real Madrid. Destroyed Real Madrid. Not to me and not to Jose Mourinho. As from his interview after the game, he also said that Real Madrid lost but not humiliated. Real Madrid were at their worst when [.

La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 17: Winter break over...has anything changed? is a post from: Just Football

The answer to that is "almost, but not quite". To begin with, there were nearly no games played this round after the threatened strike action by the Spanish football players' association, the AFE.

Barcelona on the road can be a treat to watch but Deportivo La Coruna is confident that they can bring Barca's streak to halt when the men from Camp Nou travel to Galicia in search of 9th consecutive win on the road. Although making such allegations can come back to bite them, La Coruna striker Adrian Lopez feels that his side will be the better side when they meet at the Riazor on Saturday night.

MADRID, Spain -Ballon d'Or finalists Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta scored to lead Barcelona to its 12th straight Spanish league win in a 4-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday. Messi played David Villa clear into the right side of the area before the Spain striker squeezed a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia [.

Morning all. Throughout January Soccerlens are going to be bringing you a daily round-up of the morning's various goings-on. Be it juicy morsels of spurious transfer gossip or real, actual bona fide news, rest assured, we'll have it covered.

Here's this morning's batch.

Messi cleans up.

Stefan Bienkowski writes at The Oval Log and you can follow him on Twitter @Stefan_Gla. This is his account of Rivaldo's famous overhead kick to secure Champions League football for Barcelona in 2001.

Vitor Borba Ferreira. Rivaldo. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of our generation.

FC Barcelona took full advantage of Real Madrid slip

FC Barcelona won their 17th consecutive win of the season with a 4-1 demolition of Malaga at the Camp Nou. By doing so we have now moved four points clear of our arch-rival Real Madrid. Iniesta opened the scoring followed by Villa, Pedro and again Villa to complete the tally.

Checking in from Barcelona: Part One!

I went to the Barça-Malaga match on Sunday con mi novia, it was absolutely incredible. If I didn't say so before, this was my first time seeing Barça at the Camp Nou. Words can't really do justice to the 90,000+ Catalan faithful among us or Iniesta's golaso or David Villa's soulpatch, so here's a short video I made.

The 5-0 victory in the first leg has made tomorrow's second leg of academic interest. But it could be pretty important for the fringe players in the side. Guardiola is expected to rest majority of his stars in the match in Sevilla. Messi who was down with flu has recovered and has made into the squad.

FC Barcelona Strolled in to an easy victory against Racing

FC Barcelona started the second half of the season in the perfect style winning 3-0 against Racing Santander at the Camp Nou. This is FC Barcelona's 14th consecutive League victory equalling the record held by Rijkaard's Barcelona 2005-06 team.

Maybe Florentino Pérez might start to appreciate Gonzalo Higuaín now.

The man that Pérez wanted to offload since he returned for his second stint as Real president sits in the stands because he is recovering from surgery that repaired a herniated lumbar disc in his back, and José Mourinho has not developed a successful system to cope with this loss.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique may have traded in his Old Trafford surroundings for the warmer weather of Barcelona, but the defender admits that he still has a lot of admiration for two United players in particular.

The World Cup winning center-back has revealed that Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are two of his role models, and Pique even called the pair "two of the best center-backs in the world.

Two late goals from Lionel Messi helped Barcelona secure a 3-0 victory at Hércules and equal a 50-year-old Liga record, set by Real Madrid CF in 1960/61, by sealing their 15th successive league triumph.

Hercules are the only team to have beaten Barca in the league this season, their 2-0 success at the Camp Nou on 11 September being the last time Barcelona failed to win a top-flight game.

BARCELONA, — Lionel Messi struck twice to take his league goals tally to 21 as champions Barcelona beat Hercules 3-0 to move seven points clear of Real Madrid on Saturday. Spanish international Pedro Rodriguez scored his 12th league goal of the season to open the scoring on 43 minutes before Ballon d'Or winner Messi struck [.

Two late goals from Lionel Messi helped Barcelona secure a 3-0 victory at Hércules and equal a 50-year-old Liga record, set by Real Madrid CF in 1960/61, by sealing their 15th successive league triumph.

Hercules are the only team to have beaten Barca in the league this season, their 2-0 success at the Camp Nou on 11 September being the last time Barcelona failed to win a top-flight game.