While there is a full schedule of games this week in Spain,
you'll forgive the masses if they're focused on Sunday's massive Derbi
madrileño at the Vicente Calderón Stadium.
After their loss against Osasuna last week, Atlético Madrid
must find a way to beat their city rivals -- a draw would be an acceptable
alternative as well -- or face dropping right out of the title race after such
a promising campaign. On the flip side, Real Madrid sit on top of La Liga and a
win over their rivals would create a six-point gap.
Barcelona are in action on Sunday as well returning home to
the Camp Nou to face Almeria. After their loss against Real Sociedad knocked
them out of first yet again, the Blaugrana will be looking to rebound. Barca
head coach Gerardo Martino will be serving his one-match ban after getting sent
off at halftime last week's match.
There's a really, really interesting match in the relegation
fight as well this week with 17th placed Málaga hosting 18th placed Real
Valladolid. Los Boquerones are just three points clear of Valladolid but could
expand that lead to six points with a win. The match is also important in terms
of a potential head-to-head tiebreaker at the end of the season since the two
teams tied in their first meeting of the season.
Villarreal and Real Sociedad continued their pursuit of
Athletic Bilbao in fourth place with both teams sitting three points back of
Los Leones. La Real have the toughest match of the three as they must travel to
face Sevilla, while Villarreal faces last placed Real Betis and Athletic plays
Granada.
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