Barca-Atletico weekend highlight in Spain

Saturday's clash between BBVA Primera Liga leaders FC Barcelona and second place Atletico Madrid is without doubt the biggest game in the 22nd round of games which are played over the coming weekend.

Both sides go into the match after suffering differing fortunes in their midweek Cup games, which saw Barca have to dig deep in order to beat Athletic Club Bilbao, while Atletico were surprisingly beaten at home 3-2 and knocked out of the tournament by Celta Vigo.

Barca should be at full strength for the game with Neymar and Leo Messi having shown they have shaken off the slight muscle problems that had troubled them over the past fortnight and Jordi Alba likely to also have recovered from a muscle injury.

A win for Barca would see them open a three point lead over Atletico at the top of the table with an extra game to play and start to see them put clear space against the side who currently look to be their main title rivals.

Athletic Club Bilbao are given little time to recover from their midweek trip to the Camp Nou Stadium as they travel to Getafe at 6pm. Getafe have slowly but surely climbed the table under coach Fran Escriba, but Athletic need to take points if they are to challenge for a top-6 or even a top-4 finish.

Eibar are currently in sixth place in the table and they entertain Malaga, whose run of good results has been stopped by consecutive defeats to Sevilla and Barcelona. Meanwhile fourth place Villarreal have the chance to tighten their grip on a Champions League spot for next season with a home game against Granada.

Granada coach Jose Ramon Sandoval kept his job last week after a tense 3-2 win at home to Getafe, but a heavy defeat in the El Madrogal Stadium could once again put his job on the line.

Saturday ends with Real Sociedad facing Betis with Real Sociedad needing to recover from the 5-1 caning they received away to Sporting Gijon last week.

Sunday's big game sees Real Madrid entertain Espanyol and Barcelona supporters will be interested to see if their local rivals employ the same physical tactics against Real Madrid as they did against them at the start of the month.

Real Madrid beat Espanyol 6-0 in their first meeting of the season and Espanyol's league position, just four points above the relegation zone means that Constantin Galca's side will have to try a bit harder this time around, even though it will be difficult.

Sevilla have dropped out of the top-six after recent results, but have the chance to get back to winning ways at home to relegation threaten Levante, while Gary Neville will hope Valencia's home game at home to Sporting Gijon will give his side the chance to win their first league game under his tutelage - at the eighth time of asking.

Las Palmas need to beat Celta to climb out of the relegation zone, while the round of matches ends on Monday when Deportivo entertain Rayo Vallecano. Endi