Thaindian News

Madrid, Jan 14 (DPA) Barcelona cannot wait for Saturday to come.
That is when they will have the chance to take revenge on Sevilla, who knocked them out of the King’s Cup, Wednesday, the first tournament that Josep Guardiola’s side have failed to win since 2008.

Sevilla went through to the quarter-finals on the away goals after a tense 2-2 aggregate draw.

“Now we have to turn our attention back to the league,” said Barca defender Gerard Pique after the Seville setback.

Barca - who will again be without African Nations Cup players Seydou Keita and Yaya Toure - are two points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who are away to midtable Athletic Bilbao earlier Saturday.

Real will make the trip north without injury victims Gonzalo Higuain, Rafael Van der Vaart, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Pepe, as well as African absentee Mahamadou Diarra.

“We know that it is going to be a difficult game,” said right-back Sergio Ramos on Wednesday, “it is always is difficult in Bilbao.”

He added that “we have managed to win this season in hostile places, like Marseille and Valencia, so we should be able to win in Bilbao also.”

Saturday’s other game brings together Osasuna and Espanyol, both of whom are keen to stay above the relegation zone.

The big attraction Sunday will be the east coast derby between Valencia and Villarreal.

Both teams crashed out of the cup this week, Valencia against Deportivo Coruna and Villarreal against second division Celta Vigo.

Valencia are third in the table, six points behind Real Madrid. Villarreal, for their part, are 10th.

Also Sunday, fourth-placed Deportivo Coruna are away to sixth-placed Mallorca, who have a perfect home record.

Also Sunday, Atletico Madrid will be trying to continue their upswing, at home to attractive but inconsistent Sporting Gijon. Malaga, meanwhile, will be at home to Getafe, whilst Tenerife go to Almeria and Valladolid to Santander.

Sunday will also see a grim relegation battle, between second-from-bottom Zaragoza and bottom team Xerez.

Xerez have scored just seven goals in 17 matches, a Liga record at this stage of the season. On Tuesday they replaced coach Jose Angel Ziganda with Antonio Poyatos, who will face the Labours of Hercules in his bid to save the southerners from relegation.