The twenty-third round of La Liga matches takes place this weekend.
Four matches are lined up for Saturday against Sunday's five after Real Betis set the weekend in motion with 3-2 win over Elche on Friday.
Leaders Barcelona who have opened an eight-point gap between them and Real Madrid play Almeria on Sunday. The Catalans boast of 58 points against Real's 51.
The Xavi Hernandez tutored side is the most in-form team in the division, bagging maximum points in the last five fixtures. Barca must put their Europa League failure aside and focus on dethroning Real from the La Liga title with 16 matches remaining.
Teenage midfielder Pablo Martin Gavira, commonly known as Gavi, is set to return for Barca after missing the Manchester United Europa League match on Thursday through suspension.
Pedro Gonzales, also known as Pedri, misses out with a hamstring issue. He is out for four weeks. Ousmane Dembele will also be out courtesy of an injury while Roberto Lewandowski will lead the attack as usual.
The Madrid derby pitting Real against Atletico at the Santiago Bernabeu, is the highlight of the weekend. Real will hope to reduce the gap to five points with a win before Barca play.
The head-to-head statistics reveal that of the 45 meetings they've had, Real has won 21 times, compared to Atletico's 10 wins. Fourteen fixtures have ended in a draw.
The two sides last met on January 26 in the Copa Del Rey. Real came from a goal down to prevail 3-1 with Karim Benzema, Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo scoring, rendering Alvaro Morata's strike a consolation. Real annihilated Liverpool 5-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday away at Anfield with both Benzema and Vinicius bagging braces.
Real has won thrice in the past five La Liga meetings. Atletico has managed one win with one draw. Both sides have scored in all the meetings. The two sides are separated by 10 points since Atletico has 41 points.
Fourth-placed Atletico will move to third provided Real Sociedad lose to Valencia. Sociedad are third with 43 points. Valencia has lost all their last five matches and sit 19th in the 20-team league.
Manager Genaro Gattuso was sacked on January 30 but performance hasn't improved. Ruben Baraja who was appointed on February 14, will have to turn things around faster to avoid the relegation dogfight.
Six-time Europa League winner Sevilla will hope to continue their resurgence when they host Osasuna on Sunday.
