There was a shock result in Spain at the weekend as Mallorca beat Real Madrid 1-0 in La Liga, with Vinicius Jr missing a penalty. It was just Madrid’s 3rd defeat of the season, but it means the gap between them and their big rivals Barca is stretched to eight points, and Barca don’t look like slowing down after their 3-0 win over Sevilla.

It was a perfect start to February for Barca, after a perfect January that saw them win all eight of the matches. After the win over Sevilla, Xavi said: “It was a key match because the teams below had lost. Real Madrid are eight points behind us and although it’s still early days, it’s an important distance… We are in a good moment, but this changes. We can’t relax. We are building something very good, but nothing has been won.”

Gavi scored his first goal in the number 6 shirt at Barca, which used to be his boss Xavi’s old number so he knows he has some big boots to fill. Raphinha also scored his first goal at the Nou Camp, and he was praised by Xavi who said he’s an important player to the team even when he’s not scoring or getting many assists. The stats are more important now than ever before as everybody now looks at them, but Xavi is right that they don’t tell the whole story.

Barca are also through to the knockout round of the Europa League and semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, so they could end the season with plenty of silverware if they can remain consistent. They need to keep up their intensity to hold off Real Madrid, and its an interesting tie with Man Utd in the Europa League to look forward to. #mmlove