Depor prays for a miracle

After a frantic round of midweek King's Cup fixtures a return to Liga action will provide possible light relief for some teams. Barcelona can expect an easier ride at Deportivo's Riazor stadium than it received in Athletic's "cathedral," even if Pep Guardiola's side progressed to the quarterfinals without needing to win either of its two matches against the Lions. Deportivo has won just three times against Barcelona in the past 10 years on Galician soil and Miguel Ángel Lotina's toothless side has won the same number of games at home this season. Prayer may be an idea but the home side's only weapon against the Liga Goliath is defense — only Racing has scored fewer goals than Depor so far this season — and forward Adrián is not keen on hitting the back of the net against Barça: "It's better that I don't score and we win because every time I score against them we lose," the Spaniard noted. "I've scored against Barcelona twice, and I hope I can do so again, but what's important is that we go at them and play a good game."

It may be difficult for Adrián to avoid beating Víctor Valdés in the Barcelona goal: he scored three in Depor's cup win against Córdoba and both in its 2-1 league win at Athletic last Sunday.

Valencia, which saw a comfortable two-goal lead in its King's Cup match against Villarreal overturned for a 4-2 defeat, travels to Levante for the derby match. Levante, which hasn't won since November, was thrashed 8-0 by Real Madrid in the Bernabéu yet became just the second team this season to win against José Mourinho's — admittedly second-string — team in the return cup match on Thursday. Valencia will be smarting from losing a game it had seemingly won at half time and Levante may prove the perfect foil for a spot of exorcism by Unai Emery's team.

Another side seeing a specter materializing before it is Mallorca, which plays Almería for the third time in as many weeks. If the last two matches are any gauge, goals will rain down like a summer storm on the Balearic island. Almería put eight past Michael Laudrup's side over two King's Cup ties, but the momentum in the slug-fest may have swung to Mallorca, which came from 4-0 down to almost snatch victory on Thursday. As it was, two 4-3 wins were enough to see Almería through and Mallorca will be eager to redress that balance in the league, with both teams battling against relegation.

At the top of the table, Real Madrid plays Villarreal in what will be a stern test of the title credentials of Mourinho's team. As Valencia learned to its discomfort, Villarreal is a potent attacking side that likes to pass the ball around and even without top scorer Nilmar does not lack the prospect of goals. Real will be praying Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed what was practically a training match on the coast on Thursday, recovers from illness to play, with only Karim Benzema, who has scored just once in the league this season, available to lead the line. Ronaldo, for his part, has scored almost as many times as Racing and Depor combined and will be a key element in Real's title race as Gonzalo Higuaín undergoes surgery for a herniated disc. Villarreal, buoyed by its King's Cup comeback, tops the nominal "league of 18," and may fancy its chances of gate-crashing the top two: if Juan Carlos Garrido's team wins, just five points will separate it from Real. Barcelona, playing a full 24 hours earlier, will be a keen observer of the Bernabéu clash.