Madrid kept their season motoring along with a determined win against a stubborn Gijón over the weekend. Gritty defending from the team ranked just above the relegation zone made Madrid work hard to find entry, and the goal only came late in the match, with Higuaín tapping in a deflected Benzema header right at the goal mouth.

Notable absence at pitch-side was Jose Mourinho, who is serving a two-match ban for abusing the officials in his last outing. The camera occasionally focused on him high in an executive suite, where he looked generally unhappy. He’ll be back in time for El Clásico, no worries.

Otherwise it was a plain affair, made a bit livelier by some guardian insight on facial hair:

For those who don’t know him, Manolo Preciado has the most magnificent moustache known to managers. The kind of thick, bushy facial foliage you could hide a family of badgers in, a tache that completely covers his lip. And that’s saying something because the Sporting Gijón coach has a lot of lip. He’s also got a lot of heart; he probably would hide a family of badgers in there if he thought it would help. He could hardly be earthier if he swallowed soil daily, lighting up a crafty fag on the back row of the dugout before steaming up and down the touchline like a wind-up toy, punching the air. But not before he’s turned it blue. And this weekend he helped turn it bluer than ever before.