Our Spanish football expert Guillem Balague looks ahead to another weekend of live La Liga action on Sky Sports - and he answers your email.
Got a question for Guillem? Then send it in here
Frank Rijkaard: winning the 'psychological warfare'
Recreativo v Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona
Villarreal v Osasuna
Almeria v Athletic Bilbao
Recreativo v Real Madrid
7pm, Saturday, Sky Sports Xtra
So, what is happening with Real Madrid? Well, Robinho is injured and he is their Lionel Messi - he makes things happen and gives them that extra edge up front. They have badly missed him.
Rijkaard said it in two or three interviews that 'Real Madrid are better than us'. That was Rijkaard's answer to psychological war.
Guillem Balague
Quotes of the week
Also the fact that Bernd Schuster seems to prepare his sides for a very strong start and they get to this point in the season and start to run out of petrol.
Not using Roberto Soldado and playing all the time Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Raul up front doesn't help. the fact that Van Nistelrooy hasn't scored in six doesn't help either!
Injuries to Pepe, Gabriel Heinze at some points in the season and, as I said, Robinho has not helped them also. They have had a total of nine injuries the previous weekend and these factors help to explain why They have lost six in 11 in 2008.
Added to that the arrogance and poor attitude after they went nine points clear at the top. Frank Rijkaard was very clever because three or four weeks ago he mentioned that Real Madrid were playing the best football.
He said it in two or three interviews that 'Real Madrid are better than us'. That was Rijkaard's answer to psychological war. He of course didn't mean it or if he thought it he normally wouldn't say it. But he said because he wanted to reinforce the general idea in Madrid that the league was won. But of course it's not won yet.
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona
9pm, Saturday, Sky Sports Xtra
On of the classic matches of la liga. Ateltico Madrid are once again at a crossroads where they've stopped trusting the manager, Javier Aguirre.
He made a mistake by letting Maniche go and what he has at the moment is a bunch of players that are lacking personality apart from Diego Forlan and Kun Aguero, maybe Simao and Raul Garcia but not many more really.
They don't have a very creative midfield and the disappointment of Jose Antonio Reyes, Luis Garcia and Simao to add to that.
If they can, Atletico Madrid will try to look for a new coach - names already mentioned are Unai Emery of Almeria, Rafa Benitez and Pablo Simone.
For Barcelona everything seems to be going well, in the last league match they rested Thierry Henry, in the Champions League win over Celtic they rested Samuel Eto'o and in the Cop Del Rey they rested Ronaldinho.
They can do that, they have everybody fit and the team is working hard. the key to this has been the criticism aimed at the team in the past couple of months and basically the fact that everybody seems to be more switched on now that they are close to Real Madrid.
One word on Ronaldinho, I think he is back! He seems to have listened to the message, he's working hard - you can see that on the pitch. So maybe at the end of the season we will see something close to the old Ronaldinho.
Villarreal v Osasuna
Second half only, 7pm, Sunday, Sky Sports 1
Villarreal are the unsung heroes of this season. they've done it through the goals of Nihat, Giuseppe Rossi, Robert Pires is back to something close to his best.
But for me Cani has been playing wonderful football for the last four months. Playing a special role in the hole, playing between the lines, although he is classed as a winger.
He is back to his best and Villarreal are taking advantage of it.
Almeria v Athletic Bilbao
8pm, Sunday, Sky Sports 1
There is a DVD of Almeria playing Real Madrid that has been sent to a few English managers because it was a wonderful way of playing collectively.
They are specialists in set pieces and have one of the strongest defences in la liga.
Not just because of that this match will be well worth watching but if you add to the the fact that Athletic Bilbao have some players are reaching maturity at a point when it is needed.
I'm talking about Markel Susaeta on the right hand side of the midfield and Fernando Amorebieta who maybe will play for Spain soon.
And Fernando Llorente of course who has always been up and down seems to be more consistent and the genius of Francisco Yeste - all of them well worth watching.
Guillem answers your questions...
Hello Guillem! Now that the Champions League has resumed, I would like to know your views on the chances of the Spanish clubs in the competition. Surely Real and Barcelona will get past Roma and Celtic respectively, but what can we expect if they are drawn against the likes of Milan, Man Utd, Chelsea etc in the next round? Nishanth Ayyagari, Manchester.
GUILLEM REPLIES: Strangely enough I think Sevilla will go the furthest in the Champions League as they are coming back to form at the right time, and their football is suited to cup competitions because they don't speculate, they go for the kill and the victory. And again this is a bunch of players that enjoy the big games so I would say that Sevilla could beat any of those teams. I don't feel that Real Madrid have enough to go far in the Champions League especially at the back they still are suspect and their poor form has come at the wrong time. Barcelona I can see maybe being semi-finalists but if they meet Sevilla I would put my money on Sevilla.
Hi Guillem, How do you rate Antonio Cassano and his recent form in Italy , do you think he has in fact returned or nearly returned to the player he was expected to be, or do you believe that it is the Italian league that gets the best out of him. Also how likely is it he will return to Madrid ? Thanks, Chris from Manchester .
GUILLEM REPLIES: Yes, I think Cassano is suited for Italy in Italy his boutadis, which means childish behaviour, is greeted with a mixture of admiration and contempt at the same time - they let him be. In Spain as soon as he started going off the rails he was put aside from the rest of the squad, even by an Italian manager in Capello. I don't see him coming back to Real Madrid at all. Cassano is a flawed genius, like many others throughout the history of the game, but also he is a very unbalanced person so he has to be near home to feel comfortable.
I was watching Real Madrid TV before their match against Real Betis. One thing they said was that when Mahammadou Diarra didn't play Real played better, I also hear Liverpool are interested in signing him. Do you think he will leave Madrid ? Callum Greig (Newcastle United & Real Madrid fan).
GUILLEM REPLIES: Diarra cost Real Madrid a lot of money and I see that their lack of consistency, especially in the midfield, in the last few weeks suggests that Diarra is going to be back in the team. He's the kind of midfielder they don't have and kind of midfielder they need even though he's not a favourite with the fans, so I think Diarra is going to stay at the Bernabeu.
Got a question for Guillem? Then send it in here
Comments (3)
Eddine Mcguire (Arsenal fan) says...
I personally think that fatigue has accumulated for Real's Ruud, his movement became much slower and seems less sharp compared to the beginning of the season. Higuain isn't as good as he should be but seems to be the first choice compared to Roberto Soldado. I think Real should look for a young striker with a great talent as I don't think Ruud will make it until the end of his contract. Robinho is back (he scored from first touch against Recreativo) which means they can manage against AS Roma, but looking further ahead in the season, Barcelona seem to have the upperhand
Posted 23:06 1st March 2008
Dan Mc (Manchester United fan) says...
why would madrid need a striker? ruud is on form, so is raul, they also have saviola who's a great player. barca are the new madrid, too many stars to keep happy, causing unrest, they should offload ronaldinho. valencia should sack koeman and personally i would like somebody like slaven bilic to take over, an organiser who wont be bullied by the board, and do it his own way.
Posted 19:15 1st March 2008
Dave Widger (Arsenal fan) says...
Could you tell me what the transfer plans are for Barcelona and Real Madrid? As usual they are both being linked with all the usual star names (Fabregas, Ronaldo, Kaka, Lampard etc). I would have thought Real would be after a striker possibly Ibrahmovic while Barce possibly need a right back (possibly Dani Alves) and midfielder (Van der Vaart)
Posted 15:52 1st March 2008