It's odd how quickly it was forgotten, but Barcelona's short trip to Girona on Sunday would have been a rather longer journey to Miami if La Liga had had its way. Given the uproar, it never happened, and, for now, it remains a statistical curiosity.

Those who saved themselves a trip to Florida saw a somewhat nervy Barca side win their eighth game in a row, taking the lead early through Nelson Semedo, being pegged back and needing Marc-Andre ter Stegen to make several big saves, gaining a man advantage early in the second half and then getting breathing room late through you-know-who as Lionel Messi notched his 26th goal of the season.

Philippe Coutinho got another shot in the front three in Ousmane Dembele's absence and struggled, both in terms of finishing and creativity. Ernesto Valverde hasn't found his role yet, and the midfield was disjointed, although things picked up after Arthur came on.

Barca continue sailing along, but there's plenty for Valverde to fix under the hood.

Yup, we got the memo. Pump the brakes, don't get carried away. But Friday's FA Cup fourth round win at Arsenal marked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's eighth consecutive victory in all competitions for Manchester United in eight games. And while the run includes some gimmes, it also includes wins over Arsenal and Tottenham away.

In case you're wondering (I was), the record belongs to United in the 2008-09 campaign, when they won 11 straight. And their next three games are home to Burnley and away to Leicester City and Fulham, followed by the first leg of the Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain at Old Trafford.

Juventus need to get it together

We've seen this script before, and rightly, they get praised for it. Juventus went a goal down to Lazio, withstood a first-half battering and then still came away with three points, thanks to a Joao Cancelo goal and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty (after Senad Lulic foolishly pulled Cancelo back in the box).

Mental strength, resilience -- we've heard it all before, and it's all true. But maybe it also ought to be as a little warning light on Max Allegri's dashboard.

This was a poor performance, which means they've been poor in three of the past four games. (Atalanta and Sampdoria were the other two, and although they did squash lowly Chievo, that's not saying much.) Against Lazio, you saw just how important the absences of Miralem Pjanic and Mario Mandzukic were, although that can't be the only alibi as both players started against Atalanta and Sampdoria.

Allegri took responsibility for the performance, acknowledging that in the first half it looked "as if we were all wearing different color shirts," such was the poor quality of their passing and cohesion. There's no reason to worry in terms of Serie A, but business needs to pick up in time for the Champions League.

Morata heads back to Spain

You feel a little bit for Alvaro Morata -- well, about as much as you can feel for a guy who looks like a male model, plays professional football for a living and earns around $12 million a year. He's about to join Atletico Madrid, yet some Atleti Ultras gave him a hard time in the 2-0 win over Getafe. "Fewer Moratas, More Borja Garces" they sang, referencing their 19-year-old youth team product who, thus far, has played 21 minutes of top-flight football.

Complicating things further is Morata's past at Real Madrid, (although to be fair, before he joined Real's youth set-up, he was actually at Atletico.) I get that players are pros and go where they're needed. But I also like that fact that to some fans, a sense of belonging matters.

If he scores goals, odds are most won't care anyway.

The renaissance of Fabio Quagliarella

Fabio Quagliarella's career has been marked more by quality than quantity (or, at least, consistency). You can take his top goals compilation (here's one I found, but there are better ones out there) and it would stack up favourably against just about any striker out there.

But a weird thing has been happening of late: he has started scoring plenty, including tons of "normal" goals that count just as much as spectacular ones. In fact, he's the top goal scorer in Serie A at 35 years of age. In fact, he has scored more in the past two and a half years than he did in the previous six, when he was supposedly in the prime of his career.

Oh, and his two goals on Saturday mean that he has scored in 11 consecutive games, equaling the record held by the legendary Gabriel Batistuta. Like a fine wine...

Dortmund continue to lead the way in Germany

Borussia Dortmund hosting Hannover was always going to be a one-sided affair -- the visitors were second-bottom and had gone eight games without a win -- but it was a relatively tight affair until a burst of goals midway through the second half.

What did we learn? Well, Marco Reus continues to play some of the best football of his career, and you wonder where he might be if he had not been slowed by injuries in his prime. Achraf Hakimi is one of the best full-backs in Europe, which is good news for Real Madrid, where he'll return after his loan ends.

On the downside, Julian Weigl's reinvention at center-back is an experiment that has run its course: when everyone is fit, there are plenty better options.

Another encouraging win for Real Madrid