Atletico Madrid’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League face a big test today when the club plays fourth-place Valencia in the Spanish league.
The struggling club has won only one of its nine games since the start of the new year and is closer to the relegation zone than Valencia. Atletico trail Valencia by 14 points and are only nine points ahead of Levante, who are 18th.
League leaders Barcelona will be looking to stretch their Spanish league record winning run to 17 games at Sporting Gijon today, while Real Madrid play at Espanyol tomorrow.
Madrid trail two-time defending champions Barcelona by seven points.
Atletico turned down big-money offers from Chelsea and Madrid for striker Sergio Aguero, and also staved off January interest for Diego Forlan to maintain the bulk of its attack.
But the club hasn’t scored in four games and coach Quique Sanchez Flores is facing scrutiny despite guiding the team to Europa League and European Supercup titles last year.
Atletico goalkeeper David De Gea is expected to be available despite hurting his leg with Spain’s Under-21 team this week, while midfielder Mario Suarez also returned to training on Wednesday.
“We’re not enjoying our best season but if we keep fighting we’ll move up,” De Gea said.
Valencia are unbeaten in eight league matches, with six wins. The club remains a point behind third-place Villarreal for the last direct qualifying place for the Champions League. Whichever club finishes fourth must advance to the group stage from a playoff.
Valencia hope to have Juanma Mata available as the Spain forward recovers from an ankle injury. Valencia could use Mata in the line-up with a Champions League match against Schalke looming on Tuesday.
“Now that they’re struggling to get results they are much more dangerous as they’ll be out for victory to please their fans,” Valencia winger Joaquin Sanchez said ahead of the match at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.
Barcelona would like another victory ahead of the first leg of their Champions League date at Arsenal on Wednesday.
The Catalan club has outscored opponents 60-6 during the record run and announced it had reached a deal to extend coach Pep Guardiola’s contract to next season.
The announcement comes at the perfect time, according to goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
“We’re starting the most important stretch of the season,” Valdes said. “In the next few weeks we’ve got three titles on the line.”
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s chase of a league scoring record continues as the pair are even with 24 goals with 16 games to play. Hugo Sanchez and Telmo Zarra share the record of 38.
Madrid’s attack burst back to life in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Real Sociedad as Ronaldo scored two and Emmanuel Adebayor added his first league goal. Madrid will have to keep it up with Champions League play coming into the fold.
“We’ve got no margin for error,” Madrid defender Raul Albiol said on Thursday. “Because if we lose then we can practically say goodbye to the league.”
Madrid will be looking to hand Espanyol their second straight defeat at the Cornella-El Prat Stadium after they won eight of their first nine games at their Barcelona ground. Espanyol have slipped into sixth-place - one point behind Athletic Bilbao, who trail Valencia by six points.
Also, Racing Santander begin their second stint under coach Marcelino Garcia Toral with today’s game against Sevilla. Marcelino, who coached the club during the 2007-08 season, replaced the fired Miguel Angel Portugal.
Also, it’s: Levante vs. Almeria; Malaga vs. Getafe; Hercules vs. Zaragoza; Real Sociedad vs. Osasuna; Deportivo La Coruna vs. Villarreal; and Mallorca vs. Athletic Bilbao.