MADRID, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Atletico Madrid aim to maintain the pressure on FC Barcelona in the 23rd round of matches in the Liga Santander held over the coming weekend.
Atletico closed the gap at the top of the table to nine points last weekend as they defeated Valencia 1-0, while Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw away to local rivals, Espanyol.
That gap could have closed to just six points on Saturday as Atletico travel to relegation haunted Malaga, who are four points adrift at the foot of the table after losing 1-0 away to fellow strugglers Las Palmas on Monday night.
That defeat was a huge blow to Malaga's survival hopes and although Atletico are without Diego Godin and Stefan Savic, they can be optimistic of taking 3 points from their trip to the south coast.
Real Madrid are at home to Real Sociedad on Saturday night and Zinedine Zidane's side need to take advantage of their rival's leaky defense to gain confidence ahead of next week's vital Champions League tie against Paris Saint Germain.
With Madrid's entire season now hanging on their European campaign, Zidane may make some changes to his usual side, but needs to balance out the need to keep players fresh against the need for a good result following last weekend's draw against Levante.
Fifth place Villarreal are also in action on Saturday as they look to bounce back from last week's defeat away to Betis against Alaves, who have climbed five points clear of the relegation zone under coach Abelardo Fernandez.
Alaves are without influential winger, Alfonso Pedraza who is on loan at the club from Villarreal, but will recover John Guidetti, who couldn't play against Celta last weekend for contractual reasons.
Leganes meanwhile have to pick themselves up after the disappointment of Wednesday's Cup semi-final defeat to Sevilla. Seventh place Eibar will be a real test for Asier Garitano's side in the Butarque Stadium.
Sevilla entertain Girona on Sunday lunchtime in what should be an entertaining game, before Barcelona entertain Getafe in the Camp Nou.
Barca have problems in central defense with Thomas Vermaelan still out and Pique struggling with a knee injury and Ernesto Valverde will once against rotate his side following Thursday's Cup semi-final away to Valencia, with Nelson Semedo, Paco Alcacer, and Aleix Vidal all in with a chance of starting.
Celta Vigo face Espanyol and will look to top scorer Iago Aspas to maintain their hopes of qualifying for Europe alive, before Sunday ends with a Valencia derby between Valencia and Levante with both sides in need of the win.
Three consecutive defeats have left Valencia in danger of slipping out of the top four, while Levante have just one victory in their last 17 matches and are in danger of dropping into the relegation zone.
The round of matches ends on Monday when Clarence Seedorf makes his debut as Deportivo la Coruna coach with a home match against entertaining but irregular Betis.
