Topics: La Liga, Real Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Sevilla, Lionel Messi, James Rodríguez
Real Madrid held on to the top spot in the Spanish league, but Barcelona is now closer to their bitter rivals with their win vs Sevilla.

The eighth weekend of action in La Liga left several talking points, including Barcelona's rise from fifth place all the way to the second spot, while Real Madrid held on to the top spot of the competition despite suffering a late scare against Granada at the Bernabeu.

Atlético's second straight goalless draw saw them drop one more spot in the ranking, while Sevilla's massive loss against Los Culés left them in fifth place in La Liga. Furthermore, Real Sociedad's second straight loss paved the way for Barcelona's surge mentioned above.

Here are the full standings after eight games.

"Real Madrid is the unbeaten leader in La Liga!

Once we've dealt with that, let's have a look at some major facts that took place this weekend. For starters, Real Madrid claimed an emphatic 4-2 win against Granada, and the highlight of that game was James Rodriguez's cameo appearance that concluded with a goal, which ended a 29-month drought without a goal in La Liga. Curiously, that last goal also came against Granada.

Next up is Lionel Messi. Barcelona's eventful win against Sevilla saw Messi reach yet one more record, and now that some of his team-mates will not be around, he will have to carry the entire weight of Barcelona's offense...again.

La Liga - Top Scorers

With Messi's extended absence, and mainly because he just scored his first goal of the season, there are no signs of the Blaugrana ace among the top five strikers. As of now, Karim Benzema and Betis' Loren Moron are the top scorers in the Spanish top-flight. Let's see if they can hold on to that position now that Messi is back with Los Culés.