Madrid: Spain's capital city will become the focal point of the country's football activity on Sunday when Real Madrid hosts crosstown rival Atletico and Barcelona visits Getafe.
Madrid will be looking to maintain its form and league lead following a 2-2 draw with AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday, which sealed its progress to the knockout round.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who failed to add to his 12 goals for the season at the San Siro, felt his side was unfortunate not to beat Milan, even though Madrid needed a last-gasp equaliser to earn a draw.
"We took just one point but it could have been three because we played much better," said Ronaldo, who praised how the team has reacted under pressure. Last weekend Madrid beat Hercules 3-1, thanks to two timely assists by Karim Benzema.
Defender Pepe said the team's cohesiveness and spirit were among its strengths under coach Jose Mourinho.
"The squad is phenomenal and so is the coach. We must stand together in order to win," he said. "We wanted to leave San Siro with a different feeling but a draw is a good result. We were rather superior to Milan but they scored two goals. We understood we had to react and we did so well."
Madrid has scored 19 goals in its last four league games and is targeting a 20th win in 31 league meetings with Atletico, which has not beaten its cross-city rival in the league since 1999.
Barcelona trails Madrid by one point in the league but its star forward Lionel Messi extended his lead over Ronaldo in the scoring charts with his 15th goal of the season in Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Copenhagen.
That was the Argentine's 100th goal since Pep Guardiola took over as coach. Messi has scored 64 in the Spanish league, 22 in the Champions League, seven in the Copa del Rey and two in the Club World Cup, amounting to one third of Barcelona's goal tally since Guardiola took over.
Guardiola's squad could be boosted by the return of winger Jeffren Suarez who trained in the gym with defender Gerard Pique, Xavi Hernandez and Messi on Thursday after having dislocated his shoulder in Barcelona's 2-0 Copa del Rey win at Ceuta on October 27.
Pique said that key player Xavi was still recovering from tendon problems that had sidelined him in recent matches.
"He has to be cared for and treated and we are confident of his recovery so that he may return to form. I've seen him training and playing well and apparently he doesn't seem to have any problems," Pique said.
"As the weeks go by, we are feeling better, are more solid at the back and scoring more goals."
Also this weekend, third-place Villarreal faces a tough challenge against Athletic Bilbao while Sevilla hosts fourth-place Valencia on Monday.
On Saturday it's Real Sociedad vs Racing Santander and Espanyol vs Malaga, while also on Sunday it's Zaragoza vs Mallorca, Almeria vs Sporting Gijon, Osasuna vs Hercules and Levante vs Deportivo La Coruna.
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