La Liga Lowdown

Are Real Madrid back for good? Like REALly back? (Sorry.) Suddenly the boys in white (or actually a weird pinky red this week) are looking like European champions, with big names starring and scoring - especially Karim Benzema as they won at Espanyol. Question is: is he the best number 9 in the world?!Just up the road, Barcelona beat Girona but it wasn't actually all that easy - still, it's 8 straight league wins, so they stay 5 points clear of Atlético who were totally in control at home to Getafe...and we make a deep analogy about watches.Sevilla put 5 past leaky Levante who can now boast the worst defence in the division - all Sevilla's goals came in the 2nd half, all from different scorers. And they'll have enjoyed Betis' defeat at a rejuvenated Athletic Club by a goal to nil.No big team seemed fazed on Derby Day as Valencia put away a poor Villarreal who look now to be really struggling 5 points from safety - whatever new boss Luis García Plaza is doing, it really ain't work