Real Madrid play Villarreal, focus on Barca

Real Madrid hope to keep on the pressure on Barcelona with a win against Villarreal on Sunday after the league leaders widened the gap at the top with a 4-0 drubbing of Racing Santander.

In mid-week Real suffered a disappointing Champions League defeat by Lyon and defender Alvaro Arbeloa said the players need to bounce back.

“There are three weeks before we play the second leg of the Champions League and we have a key game against Villarreal coming up where we will need to get our game back on track and give ourselves confidence,” he said.

“We need to win our next few games as that will set the tone for the rest of the season.”

In Sunday’s other games, Atletico Madrid face Almeira and are still struggling with their own demons — including lack of consistency. And they are still basking in the afterglow of last week’s win over Barcelona.

“Hopefully we can play more games like the one against Barcelona. We have been working hard and I think gradually you are seeing the results of that,” said Atletico striker Diego Forlan.

Spanish league leaders Barcelona on Saturday put their injury concerns to one side as they cruised to a 4-0 win over Racing Santander on Saturday.

The Catalan side had seen their lead at the top reduced to two points following their first league defeat last weekend against Atletico Madrid but they were comfortably in charge from the start against Racing.

Despite missing several key players including Dani Alves, Xavi Hernandez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Barca went ahead after seven minutes through Andres Iniesta who latched onto a loose ball in the penalty area.

Racing went further behind through a tame goal when a Thierry Henry free-kick went straight through their wall, but then minutes later another from almost exactly the same spot was struck perfectly by veteran Mexican international defender Rafa Marquez and went in off the post.

Racing offered few moments of danger on the counter-attack and their newly discovered prodigy Sergio Canales had a quiet game.

There were fewer clear-cut chances in the second half but substitute Thiago Alcantara made Barca’s win more emphatic with a deflected goal six minutes from the end.

“There were good things about the performance but at the highest level you need to play better and demand more of yourself. Without playing especially well we got what we wanted, we were strong at the back but we didn’t play the ball around very well,” said Barca coach Pep Guardiola.

Racing coach Miguel Angel Portugal felt his side were well beaten.

“They were far superior to us and we had no real chances in the game. The second goal finished us off as after that we were not able to bounce back. The two goals from free-kicks caused us a lot of damage.”

Later on Saturday Sevilla condemned Mallorca to their first home defeat of the season as they ran out 3-1 winners and took a crucial advantage in the fight for a Champions League place.

The result means that Sevilla have now gone four points clear of fifth placed Deportivo la Coruna while Mallorca, who have been enjoying one of the best seasons in their history, suffered their second successive defeat.

Mallorca went ahead through Mario Suarez but Sevilla were well worth their equaliser when Jesus Navas beat the Mallorca defence to the ball and then slotted home.

The referee then took centre stage sending off Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo – his second red card in as many matches – followed by Mallorca defender Ivan Ramis in what appeared to be very harsh decisions.

After the break Ivica Dragutinovic put Sevilla ahead and Diego Perotti slid home a cross from Navas for their third.

In the final minute Sevilla were reduced to nine-men when Didier Zokora was dismissed after a second yellow card for dissent.

“This was a great result against a good Mallorca side. We are finding the level that we had before and if we want to be successful we have to continue this way,” said Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez.

“When we had eleven players we were very solid and even though we conceded a goal we still believed in ourselves and we showed in the end we were better.”