Sevilla will seek to maintain its excellent record against Real
Madrid when it travels to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, while
Atletico Madrid will be looking to find some consistency when it
visits Zaragoza in the Spanish league this weekend.
Fourth-place Sevilla has fallen 18 points off league leader
Barcelona after looking like a title contender early in the season.
However, the Andalusians have won seven of their last 11
games against Madrid. The most recent match was in the league in
October, when Madrid lost 2-1 at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, its
first defeat of the season.
Last season's 4-3 victory for Sevilla at the Bernabeu
accelerated the departure of Madrid coach Bernd Schuster.
"We've seen some of their games when they haven't played that
well but they have won," said Sevilla's Renato. "The key is to take
our chances because they don't let you off the hook; they have one
or two chances and they score. We have to attack and hurt them."
Madrid is on a six-game winning run in the league during
which it has scored 22 goals and conceded four, leaving it on 59
points, two behind Barcelona. That streak has seen Madrid play
mainly against mediocre opposition and during that time Manuel
Pellegrini's men also stumbled to a 1-0 loss at Lyon in the
Champions League.
With Madrid's Spanish players making up much of the national
team, they will be in high spirits following Wednesday's 2-0 win
against France in a World Cup warm-up in Paris. Madrid defender
Sergio Ramos scored Spain's second goal.
Sevilla has been in erratic form since Christmas. Despite
reaching the final of the Copa del Rey, it has been vulnerable in
the league, looking jaded from its Champions League commitments in
a goalless draw with Athletic Bilbao last weekend.
The form of fellow Copa del Rey finalist Atletico Madrid has
been even more mystifying. Quique Sanchez Flores' side has crashed
to defeats to Malaga and Almeria, yet victory against Barcelona and
last weekend's 4-1 rout of Valencia suggested the corner might have
been turned.
"The team is good. We're playing well, we're organized and
the good results give you confidence to go out and play better,"
said defender Tomas Ujfalusi. "In recent games we've shown we can
play anyone and beat them."
That seems to be the case when Atletico's first-choice
strikers, Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan, are playing. Forlan has
12 league goals and Aguero nine and the team looks a different
prospect when both are available, as they are expected to be
against Zaragoza.
Atletico is 11th in the standings on 30 points. Zaragoza,
17th on 24 points, is looking for an upset at its Romareda stadium
on Sunday.
Zaragoza has only recently climbed out of the relegation zone
although after last weekend's impressive 2-0 win at Getafe, coach
Jose Aurelio Gay is optimistic, describing it as a "fantastic
game."
"There's a lot of time to go and I hope we keep improving,"
he said. "We've now got some tough games at home, all the big teams
are coming. Every game now is a final."
Leader Barcelona visits 13th-place Almeria on Saturday
seeking to build on home wins against Racing Santander and Malaga,
following its only league loss of the season so far - to Atletico.
According to striker Bojan Krkic, the champion has now come
through a brief dip in form.
"A season is very long. We're human and we have ups and
downs, it's normal," he said. "The important thing is for us to
recover, because we are united. We feel good, we're strong and we
believe we can achieve something this season."
Also Saturday, it's: Deportivo La Coruna vs. Tenerife. On
Sunday, it's: Malaga vs. Xerez; Espanyol vs. Villarreal; Mallorca
vs. Sporting Gijon; Osasuna vs. Getafe; Athletic Bilbao vs.
Valladolid. On Monday it's: Valencia vs. Racing Santander.
