This match will be a good opportunity for Valladolid to take three points against very weak Real Madrid. If it wasn’t for several great strikers, Real should be in the bottom part of the table judging by their performances. Despite the trashing by Barcelona, Valladolid will have something to hope for in this match. The goals conceded in that match are mostly the result of remarkable qualities of Samuel Eto’o and his teammates, rather than poor performance of Valladolid. The Purple ones seemed like the team that knows how to play football.

After four successive wins, Malaga got ‘tamed’ at home by Barcelona. The four match against the strongest teams run, continues on Saturday in Madrid. The Kings were denied a victory in Almeria last week and they have no choice but to win this match if they want to stay close to the impressive Barcelona. Anyhow, this will be a very interesting match.

Madrid see this match as a revenge for the unexpected and painful loss at Olimpico in Torino two weeks ago. In the 21st century Real were regularly the losing side in the clashes with Juventus, and the biggest Italian club are somehow always able to lift their play against Merenges. It is not because Juventus are a better team, that is not the case this year and the last half an hour of the game in Torino showed that Real have more quality. Perhaps they underestimated Juventus reserve squad that were in a big crisis, but already after 50 minutes the result was 2:0 in favour of the hosts. Schuster’s side got back in the game but the competitive spirit helped the Italians to keep the minimum win and take over the head of group H. Now Real will go out of their way to fight back; they have six points from three matches and a win would see them make a decisive step towards the next round. To be honest, no matter what the result may be, we expect both of these giants to move on to the knock-out stage while Zenit and BATE Borisov will fight for third place and UEFA Cup.

Almeria have suffered a hard loss to Barcelona while Real Madrid had a close win against Athletic Bilbao second worst team in the league, so we are in for a highly interesting duel this weekend. Alvaro Negredo and his boys defeated the boys from Madrid last year at home so they don’t have exactly nice thoughts about this venue. Real’s eight points in front of today’s rivals is enough to tell the favorites for this fixture.

The games between Athletic and Real have been considered a derby until some ten years ago, as these two teams are the most successful in Spain. A lot of years has passed since Athletic last won the title in Spain but still, the match at Santiago Bernabeu will be important for both sides. Real enters this game on the back of the defeat in Turin, while Athletic lost the last three games.

Even the older Juventus fans can’t remember this kind of a crisis. The Saturday loss in Naples was the last straw and the media literally crucified coach Ranieri. Although he keeps on repeating that there is no crisis, clearly the biggest Italians club have no future with him. They are already very much behind the leading teams. The disastrous transfer windows and often injuries of best players limited the team so much that we don’t see how Juventus will get away this time. However, they are the biggest threat when everyone rules them out but they don’t have the quality for big things. Last year they went along relying only on Del Piero’s individual quality and several other players and the fact that they played in Serie A only. Now, with two games a week, they seem worn out and weary. Mighty Real arrive at Olimpico, after they continued the domination over city rivals, Atletico this weekend. The Royal club did win the match in the last second through a penalty but they earned it. They are dominant in group H, having taken six points in duels against BATE Borisov and Zenit and already claimed the contention for the first place in the group. They can use some tactics in Torino, as a point would suit them just fine.

This game is the derby of the round and guarantees good football. Both sides have different results in the last round. Atletico suffered a disaster in Barcelona while Real Madrid disappointed their fans, after drawing with Espanyol at home. Both sides need points and there is no doubt that both of them will try hard to win. This especially applies to Atletico that have marked three defeats after six rounds and losing another home game would be a huge blow for the club’ s aspirations for this season.

This game is another clash between Madrid and Barcelona side in this round. Barcelona and Atletico will meet in Catalonia and Espanyol travel to Madrid. After the city derby Espanyol will have a mission impossible to take at least one point at Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid are in excellent form, with four straight wins in the league and they marked a win in Champions league as well against excellent Zenit away.

Zenit will host Real Madrid in what should be the most interesting encounter of this round. The Russians lost their opening game in Turin against Juventus, and only the win in this match will satisfy their ambitions. Real had an easy job against minnows BATE Borisov, and their good league form will give them confidence before this match.

Despite the defeat from Barcelona Betis didn’t embarrass. The Greens played very good game but they were just unlucky. As expected Real trashed Sporting and showed them the way to the second division. This game is one of the three most interesting in the fifth round. Manuel Luiz de Lopera will be packed, as Betis has the chance to win, and they need the three points to run away from the bottom of the table.