Gameday: Barcelona vs Valencia

Saturday, January 28, 2012

La LIGA: Real Madrid vs Zaragoza

The leaders enter the weekend with a five-point advantage over rivals Barcelona, but after losing out to Pep Guardiola's men in yet another competition -







Madrid was eliminated by Barcelona in Copa del Rey on Wednesday - Real will be focused on preserving its first-place position to edge the Catalans in the title race.

Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka is wary of the threat that last- place Zaragoza can pose and insists that his side is focused on rebounding from its King's Cup exit in the proper manner.

"The squad is thinking about the match against Zaragoza, which will surely be difficult," said Karanka. "Despite the shape they're in, they managed to cause an upset against us last year. The squad only thinks about winning and giving another good performance."

Real Madrid's last La Liga loss came at the hands of Barcelona on Dec. 10 as the Catalans earned a 3-1 win at the Bernabeu. Since then, Madrid has won four-straight league games by a combined score of 17-5.

Zaragoza, which sits bottom of the table with just 12 points on the season, has drawn two-straight league games and is winless in its last 12 La Liga matches. It has not won since Oct. 16, a 2-0 defeat of Real Sociedad.

Barcelona looks to close the gap on Real Madrid as the reigning European champions head to El Madrigal to face lowly Villarreal.

The Catalans have lost just once in La Liga this season, a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Getafe on Nov. 26. That result sparked a six-game unbeaten run that saw Barcelona take 15 points from a possible 18 and outscore opponents 21-5.

Villarreal, meanwhile, sits fourth from bottom on just 19 points. The Yellow Submarines defeated Sporting Gijon, 3-0, on Monday to snap a six-game winless run.

In Saturday's other two La Liga contests, Espanyol looks to extend its unbeaten run to six games when it hosts Mallorca at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat, and Athletic Bilbao looks to build upon its 1-0 win over Mallorca in Copa del Rey on Wednesday when it travels to the Teresa Rivero to face Rayo Vallecano

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