This Week in La Liga: Karim Benzema’s milestone, Luis Suarez’s backheel

From Messi and Oblak making The Best Awards to Real Madrid's derby win, here is all you need to know what happened in La Liga last week

This Week in La Liga: Karim Benzema's milestone, Luis Suarez's backheel

Karim Benzema and Luis Suarez. Pics/ AFP

What has been going on in LaLiga this past week?u00e2u0080u00afHereu00e2u0080u00afare all theu00e2u0080u00aftop stories,u00e2u0080u00affrom a huge win for Real Madrid in the Madrid Derby to a ‘goals against hunger’ campaign.

Real Madrid win the derby
The first Madrid derby of the season was played in Valdebebas on Saturday night, with reigning champions Real Madrid coming out winners over top of the table Atletico de Madrid. Los Blancos defeated Atleti 2-0 thanks to a Casemiro header and a Jan Oblak own goal following a cracking shot by Dani Carvajal. The result moves Real Madrid to within three points of Atleti - a crucial three-point haul.

Another milestone for Benzema

Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema made his 528th appearance for Real Madrid in Saturday’s city derby, making him the club’s all-time leading foreign appearance maker. He overtook Roberto Carlos’ tally of 527 official appearances for the club and the Brazilian posed in a photo alongside Benzema to congratulate the striker.

Seven out of seven in Europe
The past week was an excellent one for Spanish clubs in UEFA competition, with all seven LaLiga Santander teams that started this season in Europe progressing to the knockout rounds. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla and Atleti are all into the Champions League last 16, while Villarreal, Granada and Real Sociedad are in the pot for the Europa League last 32.

Messi fires Barcelona to victory
On Sunday night, Barcelona and Levante played out a fascinating duel at the Camp Nou, one which Barça ultimately won 1-0. It was a narrow victory for the Catalan side thanks to none other than Lionel Messi, who drove towards goal and fired an unstoppable shot past Aitor Fernandez, the Levante goalkeeper who'd had an excellent game overall, with just a quarter of an hour left on the clock.

Huesca's first victory
Last season’s La Liga SmartBank champions Huesca won their first match this weekend since achieving promotion at the end of last season: a hard-fought 1-0 win at home over D. Alaves thanks to a Javi Ontiveros goal. The result sees them move off the bottom of the table, with Osasuna taking their place.

Messi and Oblak make The Best final threes
FIFA has announced the finalists for the main categories of The Best awards, with the winners to be announced this coming week. In the category for The Best FIFA Men's Player, Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has made the cut along with Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski. In the category for The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper, the Atleti shot-stopper joins Manuel Neuer and Alisson in the final three.

Luis Suarez's backheel is a Puskas Award contender

Luis Suarez

FIFA have also announced the finalists for the Puskás Award, the prize given out each year for the best goal scored across the world. One of the final three goals was scored in La Liga Santander, with Luis Suarez's audacious backheel goal against RCD Mallorca having been selected alongside goals by Giorgian De Arrascaeta and Son Heung-min.

A new contract for Roger Marti
Long-time Levante striker Roger Martí has committed his long-term future to the club, having signed a new deal this past week. The 29-year-old has put pen to paper on a new contract that will run until the end of the 2023/24 season.