Madrid seek to put pressure on Barca at the top of La Liga

14 January 2012 04:16

Real Madrid travel to Mallorca knowing a victory would stretch their lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga to eight points, before Barca face Real Betis in the Camp Nou on Sunday.

The title race shifted dramatically in Madrid's favour last weekend when Barca dropped two points in a 1-1 draw at Espanyol, a huge blow to the Catalans' aspirations to claim a fourth consecutive league title.

With the great rivals not due to meet again in the league until April, the attention has moved to the probable clash between the two teams in the first leg of the Spanish Cup quarter-finals in Madrid next Wednesday.

However, Real captain Iker Casillas has attempted to cool talk about Barca and look ahead to Saturday's important league game.

"We must not become obsessed with Barcelona and look first of all to the Mallorca game," he said. "We want to hold on to first position and be consistent in the league.

"The league is week in, week out. We slipped up against Levante and Racing earlier on but recovered quickly, now we have this advantage over second place we have to take it match by match now and not drop silly points."

Real have quickly returned to winning ways since the 3-1 home defeat to Barcelona in December, beating Sevilla 6-2 and Granada 5-1 to increase their advantage at the top.

However controversy for Real, fuelled by a demanding local press, is never far away and Casillas was quick to dispel stories that the relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and the Bernabeu crowd was at a low after the Portuguese star was booed for failing to celebrate a goal in the victory over Granada.

"He is a very competitive person who pushes himself to the limits and demands a lot from himself, he wants the best for the club as do the fans, but the crowd have been with him since day one," he said.

Mallorca will provide stern opposition for Real after a remarkable fightback from three goals down in the first leg of the last 16 stage of the Spanish Cup to sweep aside Real Sociedad 6-1 in the second leg in midweek for a resounding aggregate win.

All the Mallorca goals came in 25 minutes either side of half-time, with live-wire Uruguayan midfielder Chori Castro bagging two.

"This result is a reference for us before the Real Madrid game, the attitude and work rate has to be the same. We have to respect them but if we can play our game we can cause them problems," he said.

Barcelona host an improving Betis side who travel to the Catalan capital on the back of three consecutive league victories.

Although susceptible away from home where they have won three times in eight outings, Barca have yet to concede a league goal at home all season, scoring 39 goals in nine games in the Nou Camp where only Sevilla have managed a point.

Third-place Valencia host Real Sociedad on Saturday while two teams struggling for form this season meet on Sunday when Atletico Madrid play Villarreal in a home debut for Atletico's new coach Diego Simeone.

Fixtures (all times GMT)

Saturday

Zaragoza v Getafe (1700), Granada v Rayo Vallecano (1700), Sevilla v Espanyol (1700), Mallorca v Real Madrid (1900), Valencia v Real Sociedad (2100)

Sunday

Atletico Madrid v Villarreal (1100), Osasuna v Racing Santander (1500), Atletic Bilbao v Levante (1700), Sporting Gijon v Malaga (1845), Barcelona v Real Betis (2030)

Source: AFP