Madrid: Real Madrid is hoping its recovery from an embarrassing thrashing by Barcelona begins on Saturday when it plays Valencia.
Monday's 5-0 rout moved Barcelona two points clear of Madrid, handed coach Jose Mourinho's squad its first defeat of the season and showed Madrid still has a long way to go if it is to end more than two seasons without silverware.
Defender Sergio Ramos said Madrid was not dwelling on the defeat.
"We have to be conscious that we haven't lost the league; there's a lot left to play for," said the Spain fullback, who is suspended for the match after being red-carded at the Camp Nou for an ugly tackle on Lionel Messi. "It's not the end of the world to lose a game. Saturday is another three points."
Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is doubtful for the game at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium with an ankle injury while striker Gonzalo Higuain is out for two months with a back injury. Defender Ricardo Carvalho is suspended.
Mourinho will turn to striker Karim Benzema as the Portuguese coach looks for his team to bounce back from his heaviest defeat as a coach.
"The truth is that after such an important game like the 'clasico', the team wasn't happy, as you can imagine," Ramos said. "The locker room was uncomfortable. There's been a lot of bad moments before but Madrid has always been able to move on."
Villarreal is seven points behind Barcelona in third place with 27 points, Espanyol is fourth with 25 and Valencia is next with 24 points. Valencia is unbeaten in five games overall and is keen on maintaining its place in the standings.
"I hope we don't pay the price" for Madrid's rout, Valencia forward Juanma Mata said.
Barcelona, meanwhile, goes for an eighth straight victory at mid-table Osasuna on Saturday, when Atletico Madrid plays Levante.
Against Madrid, Messi and Xavi Hernandez orchestrated the two-time defending champion's masterful attack, which has outscored its opponents 28-3 during its current run.
Sport newspaper reported on Thursday that Barcelona has begun talks with coach Pep Guardiola over extending his contract beyond the end of this season after stretching the club's record run over its rival to five straight wins.
"We don't play with vindication in mind or to send out messages," said Xavi, who is one of the front-runners to win the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or world player of the year award. "But it was a fantastic game — I can't remember any other where we had such superiority."
Mallorca plays at Getafe on Sunday as the upstart Balearic Islands club looks to maintain its good start after its season started with it being booted out of the Europa League because of excessive debts that forced it to sell players in the summer.
Michael Laudrup's club has won two straight games to go to 21 points as it aims for a top-10 finish.
"Barcelona and Real Madrid — those are the big teams. We are under the sixth position where it's a fight for the rest," said midfielder Jonathan De Guzman, who has enjoyed an impressive start in Spain since arriving from Feyenoord in the summer. "Every game for us is a fight. Eighth-place to last place is a fight and everyone is pretty even from there."
In Sunday's 14th-round games, it's Almeria vs Zaragoza, Espanyol vs Sporting Gijon, Malaga vs Racing Santander, Real Sociedad vs Athletic Club and Villarreal vs Sevilla.
Deportivo La Coruna plays Hercules on Monday.
Comments
0 comment