BARCELONA Barcelona believe their latest El Clasico victory over Real Madrid will be the perfect tonic as they attempt to eat into their bitter rivals five-point lead at the La Liga summit.
Barcelona beat Real 2-1 in a bad-tempered Kings Cup quarter-final first leg clash in midweek and will start as favourites to wrap up the tie in the second leg at their Nou Camp home next week.
Before then, the defending champions travel to Malaga tomorrow while Real tackle Athletic Bilbao.
In Wednesdays feverish cup atmosphere, Jose Mourinhos Real looked nothing like the side which had won all but one of their last 23 matches and amassed 63 goals so far this season in the league. That lone defeat had also come against Barcelona in December.
Real have been stuttering away from home recently where they have only won three out of eight games and looked defensively frail last weekend in the 4-2 win over Real Betis. In midweek, Mourinho preferred to offer a more defensive display where Pepe was once again the villain.
The Portuguese attempted to stop Bara with some over the top challenges with the worst offence his crude stamping on the hand of Lionel Messi as the Argentine star lay on the ground.
Gerard Pique has not been a regular in the Bara side this season due to injuries and has often been left out when coach Pep Guardiola has played three at the back.
He produced a solid performance against Real and said that when Bara play to their potential they are still the team to beat.
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That was one of our best performances and when we play like that, then we are not going to lose. We have a style of football which we have been playing for many years and we play the same in whichever stadium, he said.
In the head-to-head matches we have come out on top against Madrid, which is great as it shows we are stronger than them, but we must improve generally to win the league and we face a big match this weekend against Malaga.
Real Betis and Sevilla clash in a passionate local derby, but the match has been overshadowed in recent years by crowd trouble and directors from both clubs have met this week in an effort to urge a more peaceful atmosphere.
Fixtures: Today Racing Santander v Getafe Espanyol v Granada Real Sociedad v Atletico Madrid Real Betis v Sevilla Tomorrow Osasuna v Valencia Rayo Vallecano v Mallorca Malaga v Barcelona Levante v Zaragoza Real Madrid v Athletic Bilbao Monday Villarreal v Sporting Gijon
