Ewan Macdonald and James Walker-Roberts look back on Matchday 7 of Primera action with an eye on those who made out best - and worst - after the weekend's games...

WINNERS

Paco Chaparro - The most weathered face in Spanish football can finally crack a grin after Betis opened their winning account against Mallorca. A 3-0 home victory silenced the home critics - for now - as Emaná put in a showboating performance. Chaparro's job remains safe - again, for now. Manuel Ruiz de Lopera could, and probably will, swing the axe at any time.

Sporting Gijón - The Asturian side have just managed their first home win in the Primera in a decade, giving the long-suffering fans at the Molinón a chance to celebrate. It was "only" Osasuna, but three points are three points for the side whose time in the Segunda made the Israelites' jaunt in the desert seem like a long weekend.

Unai Emery - The young Basque may have the Primera's lamest haircut but he also has the best debutant record of any Valencia manager, ever. After his side's 4-0 thumping of Numancia he warned that Los Che can improve further yet, which may have weekend opponents Recreativo sucking their thumbs in anticipation.

Andrés Iniesta - Put in a fine performance for Barça away to Athletic Bilbao to cap off a week that also gave him international success. What's more, Barça have now won six in a row, and he's played in every single one of them. Consolation for being left off the Ballon d'Or shortlist, then...

Andrés Palop - The veteran Sevilla goalkeeper was in record breaking mood on Sunday night as he smashed not only the club record for the amount of minutes without conceding in the league but also the number of consecutive clean-sheets. The ex-Valencia stopper has not seen his net bulge for 495 minutes of La Liga action now since Mate Bilic scored way back on matchday 2.

LOSERS

Atlético Madrid - Whilst cross-town rivals Real Madrid are finding every way they can to win matches at the moment Atlético are doing exactly the opposite. Three consecutive league defeats, culminating this weekend with a heartbreaking loss to Los Blancos, and suddenly Atlético find their superb start in tatters and the league leaders a massive ten points ahead.

Osasuna - Los Rojillos might have installed fresh blood at the helm in the form of José Antonio Camacho but it looks like they need more than just a new manager following a disappointing defeat to newly-promoted Sporting Gijón which leaves them second from bottom in La Liga. They hold the unfortunate stat of being the only club in the top-flight without a win to their name and if that doesn't change sooner rather than later more heads will surely roll.

Clos Gomez - Sergio Agüero and Wesley Sneijder played second fiddle to the man in black at the Madrid derby as he well and truly stole the show with his antics on Saturday night. Two disallowed goals, two very debatable sendings-off and an overall poor handling of the game saw him grab the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Racing Santander/Deportivo La Coruña - One side winless away from home and the other winless at home it was inevitable that the spell would be broken as they clashed on Sunday, or would it? Unfortunately for Miguel Ángel Lotina and Juan Ramón López Muñiz none of their strikers could hit a barn door from ten paces at the moment and with 9 goals between them so far it is fair to say that David Villa will not exactly be quaking in his boots at their respective Pichichi prospects.

Numancia - Numancia grabbed all the headlines on the opening day as they shocked Barcelona but since then they have obtained just a point and currently prop up the table after seven matches. A four nil defeat to Valencia was harsh but the reality is that in this league hard work alone isn't enough and unless they start to score more they will find themselves back in Segunda.

Ewan Macdonald picks out the best and brightest from the seventh weekend of Liga action...

As always, more players impressed than there were places available in our team of the week, but nonetheless eleven star performers have been hand-picked to line up in Goal.com's best eleven.

A few teams aside, it was not a matchday for goalscorers. Only two sides managed more than two goals while fully eight didn't hit the back of the net at all. Of course that meant that there were no shortage of goalkeepers keeping clean sheets, but only one could make the line-up.

This week our excellent eleven lines up in something of a 4-4-1-1 formation with attacking wingers:

Diego López
Damiá - Pepe - Prieto - Adriano
Simão - Emaná - Aurelio - Iniesta
                Mata
Villa

Goalkeeper

Diego López (Villarreal): Another clean sheet for the current 'Zamora', and one that came complete with a penalty save. All those years on the bench at Real Madrid did him no harm whatsoever.

Defenders

Damiá Abella (Real Betis): Damiá actually played more of a midfield role for the Béticos during their 3-0 thrashing of Mallorca, but he's known as a right-back and he was certainly not shy about dropping back when it mattered. A mature showing.

Pepe (Real Madrid): Amidst difficult circumstances the Portuguese kept Kun Agüero shackled well for most of the heated derbi.

David Prieto (Sevilla): A perfect performance from the local boy made good, who is proving that he is well and truly a late bloomer worth watching.

Adriano (Sevilla): A roving, rushing left-back who wasn't shy about getting among the goals at Almería to preserve his side's great run of form.

Midfielders

Simão Sabrosa (Atlético Madrid): Changed the game for the rojiblancos when he came on and netted the equaliser in the Madrid clásico. An attacking substitution of the best sort.

Achille Emaná (Real Betis): Emaná's best performance in a verdiblanco shirt by far, and one of the best individual showings of the entire matchday. A masterful showing capped off by a late goal.

Mehmet Aurelio (Real Betis): Kept Mallorca's ineffectual midfield at bay and even got among the assists. Like Emaná, that was probably his best performance yet for his new side.

Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona): Started on the right side of attack but drifted around as the game went on, and to good effect, too. Although he didn't manage to provide an assist he was still his usual, effervescent self for the blaugrana.

Juan Mata (Valencia): Along with David Villa he creates a superb attacking double-act. Real Madrid may regret having let him go as he goes from strength to strength.

Striker

David Villa (Valencia): Superlatives are wasted on Villa, who remains, at this moment in time, the best striker in the country. It was 'only' Numancia but he still got among the goals and the action in convincing fashion.

Honourable Mentions

Record-breaking stopper Andrés Palop put in a great showing for Sevilla and only just missed the cut, while Gerard Piqué had one of his better performances for Barcelona at centre-back. Gonzalo and Godín of Villarreal were also a classy pairing.

Further up the pitch Sergio García had a good game for Betis, while Málaga's Eliseu was a key figure in his side's comeback against Getafe. Garmendia was one of the few threats for Athletic versus Barça, while substitute Camuñas' service for Recre deserved more than 1-1 draw against Valladolid (for whom Víctor excelled.) Medhi Lacen played a calm game for Racing, and Bilic was a positive influence for Sporting.

Rubén De la Red believes that he is capable of playing anywhere in Real Madrid's midfield and that he has the talent and confidence to compete with the big money signings.

Los Merengues' youth team product returned to the club in the summer after a successful year with Getafe and is pushing for a regular place in Bernd Schuster's team.

With the coach shuffling his team, De la Red could be asked to slot in to a defensive midfield position rather than play in his more comfortable role further forward in the derby against Atlético this weekend.

"I only care about playing, I don't care how. I want to help the team and I will try to do my best in that position if that's where the coach wants me to play. I've played as a defensive midfielder before and managed to help the team," he explained.

"I think we all have much responsibility on this team. There is a quality squad here despite the injuries."

Rafael Van der Vart, Guti, Fernando Gago and Wesley Sneijder are all jostling for De la Red's usual position, but he believes that he is as good as any of them.

"I work as hard as the rest and the coach decides who plays. I think I'm as good as anyone else. We all work hard to earn a spot on the team. The player who's fittest makes the cut in the end," he continued.

Looking ahead to the game in the Vicente Caldéron at the weekend, De la Red thinks that the visitors will not have an easy time against their city rivals.

"Atlético de Madrid are a very good team. They are strong contenders for titles despite losing three games. No team is favourite at this stage because there are many matches left to be held," he said.

"We will see who has chances of winning the league halfway through the second part of the campaign."

The Spanish giants are keeping tabs on Hernanes and Dentinho, two promising youngsters who are set to become hot property.

No other clubs in the world quite have the penchant for picking up South American talent quite like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Now it seems that these two young Brazilian protégés are coveted by both, and it could lead to fireworks.

Hernanes is a Sao Paulo midfielder who was on the verge of joining Pep Guardiola's Camp Nou revolution in the summer, and only the high demands of his club ended Barcelona’s interest. However, he is still on the radar of the Catalan giants, and there are murmurs that a deal may soon be resurrected.

Madrid and Calderon are lurking however, should any proposed move break down. But they are favourites to land Dentinho, who is the bright young hope of Corinthians. The striker is just 19 years old, and although he is on the radar of clubs in England and Italy, it is Real who have made the first moves to secure his signature. They have suggested an asking price, and even arranged representatives to meet with Corinthians in the hope of reaching an agreement. Watch the space for further updates.

Sergio Agüero can go as far as he wants after his hat-trick in midweek against PSV according to Atlético de Madrid's last goalscorer in the Champions League, Milinko Pantic.

The Argentinian striker has won many plaudits since his commanding performance in Holland and the former Colchoneros star believes that he can become a legend.

"The boy has everything and he can do anything. He is really that good. He seems like he is 30 or older," Pantic told Marca..

"His second goal in midweek showed what he can do. Right now he is happy and in a good place.

"I think he will stay there for a long time although if Robinho's case is an example then it will up to the player when he goes."

Pantic still follows his former club's exploits and believes that Atlético can finally win a piece of silverware this term.

"I enjoyed the game against PSV and everyone should be very proud. It is a great day. The team was serious about their job and they can aspire to win everything," he added.

Lucas Brown, Goal.com

FC Barcelona could be weighing up their options in the very near future to sign a player many consider will become Lionel Messi’s ultimate strike ally: Sergio Agüero.

Both Leo and El Kun have already established themselves as a permanent fixture for the Argentine national team and they have also collaborated on numerous games over the past few years.

While their partnership with the Albicelestes has yet to hit full stride, their collaboration continues to blossom steadily and the Blaugrana have reason to believe that by playing them together week in, week out in club football, the pair could become one of the most lethal attacking duos in the history of the game.

Barcelona-based daily Sport is already watering at the mouth over that prospect and they believe that Agüero’s current €60 million buy-out clause with Atlético Madrid should not pose that big an issue for Barça nor seem that ridiculous an amount, considering the state of the transfer market at present.

That may be the case but getting the player himself to agree to jump ship is another matter altogether. Agüero will ultimately have the final say about his future and whether or not he wants to leave the Vicente Calderón for another La Liga outfit as his relationship and affection with Los Colchoneros continue to rapidly grow.

The 20 year old, however, has only stated in the past that he would not leave Atleti for crosstown nemesis, Real Madrid, although he did hint that he will return to Argentina to see out his playing days once and when his Atlético career is over.

If El Kun can maintain his upward momentum this season and elevate himself to the class Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká are in, the Blaugrana is certain to face stiff competition for his signature, with Juventus being the latest club to lavish praise on the young Argentine.