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Real looks to get past Barcelona disappointment

MADRID: Real Madrid will have to quickly get over the disappointment of a Spanish league defeat to Barcelona if it wants to maintain its hopes of winning the football title.

Barcelona has a three-point advantage following Saturday's 2-0 victory at Madrid, which cannot afford any kind of slip-up if it is to overtake the defending champion to win the championship.

With Barcelona hosting the head-to-head tiebreaker, Madrid must win its last seven games to have any chance, starting on Thursday against Almeria.

“The objective is to win every game and see what Barca does,” defender Alvaro Arbeloa said. “What we can't do is give up on the games we have left thinking that everything is lost. We've got a lot of work to do.”

Madrid will have to rediscover the confidence that was running high before its record fourth straight loss to its closest rival, which snapped a 12-game winning streak. Madrid had won all previous 15 league games at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

A dramatic title win may not even be enough to save coach Manuel Pellegrini, who took a team flush with over euro250 million ($364 million) in signings and seen it fall out of the Champions League and the Copa del Rey early.

“We've had serious problems managing ourselves,” Madrid director general Jorge Valdano said. “We haven't reached the right level in important games and that deserves profound analysis.”

Scandalous

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said the numbers Madrid had put up this season 77 points were “scandalous” but the Spanish powerhouse worries over trophies not points, and that doesn't even guarantee the coach will stay on. Just ask Fabio Capello.

“We're a team that if you give us time in the future we'll go far,” Arbeloa was quoted as saying in El Pais newspaper. “We're angry, hurt, frustrated and upset.”

Barcelona is just the opposite heading into Wednesday's game against Deportivo La Coruna, which hasn't won in six games.

Lionel Messi scored his league-leading 27th goal and 40th overall and, like his team, is full of confidence.

“Once again the team showed today we are superior to anybody else when we want to be,” Messi said. “We can keep making history. (But) you have to try to win every game and that's what we try to do, always.”

Looks to make history

Captain Carles Puyol echoed that sentiment as the European champion looks to making a place in football history.

“This is a team filled with hunger,” Puyol said. “After winning six titles it's said that motivation wouldn't exist, but here it is.”

Barcelona could be without striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic (calf) and Eric Abidal (thigh), while Kaka (groin) is likely to remain sidelined for Madrid.

Valencia needs to rediscover its game against Athletic Bilbao on Thursday after losing two of its last three games and dropping out of the Europa League.

Valencia was officially eliminated from the title race with a 3-2 loss at Mallorca on Sunday, but now it has to consolidate third-place with Sevilla and Mallorca only five points back.

Athletic trails in fourth-place the last qualifying spot for the Champions League by only three points following an emphatic weekend win over Almeria.

Sevilla plays Valladolid, which is battling to get out of the drop zone with new coach Javier Clemente going for his first win in his second match.

Mallorca is at Zaragoza, which is looking to put further distance between it and the bottom three.

In other midweek games it's: Sporting Gijon vs. Tenerife; Getafe vs. Villarreal; Atletico Madrid vs. Xerez; Racing Santander vs. Espanyol; and Osasuna vs. Malaga. — AP

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