It was a harvest of penalties in the La Liga cracker between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid Wande Metropolitano.

Quique Setien’s side will end the week four points behind rivals Real Madrid, if Zinedine Zidane’s team beat Getafe on Thursday.

La Blaugrana were handed a fortunate opener on 11 minutes, as Lionel Messi’s corner was flicked on by Sergio Busquets, with the loose ball diverted into his own net by Diego Costa.

The visitors responded immediately, as Yannick Carrasco was brought down for a penalty on 14 minutes, but Marc Ter Stegen saved Costa’s effort.

However, the referee ordered a retake, and booked the German international for coming off his line too early before making the stop.

Saul Niguez took over penalty responsibilities from Costa, and calmly drew Diego Simeone’s side level on 19 minutes.

Messi reestablished Barcelona’s lead five minutes after the break, clipping home another penalty, for his 700th career goal, after Nelson Semedo was caught by Felipe Monteiro.

But, the penalty theme continued in the final half hour, as Carrasco was fouled by Semedo, on 62 minutes, with Niguez burying his second spot kick of the night.

The defending La Liga champions now face an uphill battle to keep pace with Real Madrid, with a crucial trip to Villarreal this weekend.

Photo Credit: Twitter @fcbarcelona/atletienglish

Juventus cruised to another spectacular victory in the Serie A with goals from Paulo Dybala, Cristiano Ronaldo and Douglas Costa.

The Bianconeri certainly turned on the style at Marassi to get the better of Genoa in a 3-1 victory.

Their strikers seemed almost to be in a separate contest to out-do each other with the most beautiful goal of the game.

The Old Lady needed a victory to maintain the four-point lead at the top of the table, as Lazio had already won 2-1 at Torino earlier this evening.

Meanwhile, the Grifone were one point above the relegation zone thanks to a comeback from 2-0 down to hold bottom club Brescia.

Juve have traditionally struggled at Marassi, losing three of their last six Serie A visits.

Perin was kept busy from the start, using his legs to parry a Federico Bernardeschi snapshot, then palming away the Cristiano Ronaldo scorcher.

Matthijs de Ligt had penalty appeals waved away for an Adama Soumaoro nudge in the back, but it was one-way traffic with Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Bernardeschi all having pot-shots at Perin.

Dybala threaded through for Ronaldo, who stung Perin’s gloves at the near post from the tightest of angles.

The breakthrough finally came on 50 minutes with that man Dybala yet again, whose left foot has split open so many otherwise determined defences. This time, he went on a mini-slalom through defenders until stroking the finish into the far bottom corner from 13 yards.

Bernardeschi should’ve made it 2-0, but turned his header wide from Juan Cuadrado’s cross, although the goal did come moments later when Ronaldo gathered in midfield, ran forward and hit a right-foot screamer into the far top corner.

Juve players were lining up to out-do each other and substitute Douglas Costa gave his contribution for 3-0, a remote-controlled left-foot curler into the far top corner from the edge of the box, which dipped mercilessly past a helpless Perin.

Genoa had their first genuine shot on goal with Toni Sanabria on 76 minutes, cutting inside to hit it low and hard at the base of the near post, finding Wojciech Szczesny’s fingertips. On the resulting corner, Andrea Pinamonti got away from Cuadrado and anticipated De Ligt, smashing into the roof of the net from the tightest of angles.

Pinamonti almost snatched another on 86 minutes, as Szczesny had to rush off his line to anticipate the striker on an awful Cuadrado back-pass.

Photo Credit: Twitter @juventusfcid

There are reports in Spain that Getafe have completed the permanent signing of wing-back Marc Cucurella from Barcelona following a successful loan spell.

The Spain U21 international’s performances attracted a number of suitors lately, with reports claiming Chelsea, Napoli and Bundesliga pair Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen both interested in a move.

Frank Lampard is said to be monitoring the youngster who he considered to be an alternative to his first choice Ben Chilwell.

But, Barcelona have announced that Getafe have opted to exercise their option to buy Cucurella for 10 million euros, and should the Catalan move on in the future, the Camp Nou giants would be due 10 percent of the sell-on fee.

The Barcelona-born defender made just one first-team appearance for the Blaugrana during his time there – against lower league Real Murcia in a Copa del Rey appearance two seasons ago – before spending last season on loan at Eibar.

He once again impressed on loan at Getafe this season, prompting the club, according to Football Espana, to exercise their option to sign him permanently,

Barcelona signed full-back Junior Firpo for €18m from Real Betis last summer and the arrival of the Dominican-born player further lessened the opportunities of Cucurella at the Camp Nou.

In February, Cucurella publicly criticised Barcelona over their lack of opportunities for youth-team players.