The debate about Lionel Messi, in Spain and around the world, seems to have moved on in recent weeks, and the Barcelona player has gone from being a great to
Messi won every player of the year award in 2009, including Fifa's own honour, and at the start of this year looked a good long range bet to do so again, unless Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo had hugely spectacular World Cup campaigns.
However, after his widely publicised displays just over a week ago against Stuttgart and Valencia - although his more recent performances in La Liga against Osasuna and Mallorca were a little more modest by his own high standards - there have been headlines and
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is hardly an unknown quantity but many might still be surprised to see him competing with the likes of superstars Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi for this season's European Golden Shoe (formerly Golden Boot) award as the best marksman in European club football.
The focus of attention on Serie A predominantly revolves around but the 32-year-old Udinese captain tops the with 21 goals and continues to bang them in regardless of how badly his team-mates seem to play.
Enjoying his best season ever, Di Natale has almost single-handedly been keeping the historic but definitely modest club from the north-eastern tip of Italy in Serie A.
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I hope as many people as possible saw at least something of the enthralling La Liga game between Barcelona and Valencia on Sunday. To my mind, .
In theory, I was going to take copious notes, having mentally composed myself to look at why Barca seem to have lost their way a little, not only in the league but also, to a certain extent, in the Champions League.
However, at the final whistle went, the only words on my pad were .
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- that was the headline that flashed on the home page of the Spanish sports newspaper Marca a minute or so after the Spanish giants were eliminated from the Champions League.
In the electronic information age, the writing for Real's urbane Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini was not so much on the wall but on the computer screen and the message could not have been any clearer.
The words were slightly modified this morning but the meaning remained the same and Pellegrini knows now that, regardless of anything else that may have been said in public, he will not have a job at the club by the end of June.
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It has become an annual event, almost as eagerly awaited, by a certain group of calculator-wielding fans across Europe at least, as the Champions League final itself. I'm talking about the Deloitte Football Money League.
This is an opportunity for Europe's top clubs to preen themselves, not on their players' ability with a ball but their own off-the-pitch prowess.
And this year's , published last Tuesday, had Real Madrid leading the way again.
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This seems as good a time as any to ask a slightly irreverent but provocative question: "Just what is going on inside Franck Ribery's head?"
This conundrum has pan-European connotations as we are talking about a French international playing at a German club who is apparently at loggerheads with its Dutch coach and being openly courted by leading sides from Spain and Italy.
The usual suspects from the - the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea - have also been regularly mentioned as possible destinations for Ribery this summer.
Some pundits would consider to be the most talented European left winger around at the moment, an assessment that I'd share even though there are some other good candidates.
It's an impression that has persisted since his outstanding showing at the - and it's for this reason that his future is such a hot topic.
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Hi, I'm Phil Minshull. I've lived in Spain since 1997 and covered Spanish football since the first day I got here. My blog aims to provide some insight into what's happening in La Liga, and there is much more to it than only Real and Barcelona, as well as elsewhere around Europe.
