Kings of Europe?

Can Sevilla win the Champions League? Can Real cope without Ronaldo? Guillem Balague is back!

Guillem previews the big games and answers your questions

It promises to be another week of cracking action in La Liga, so who better to look ahead to the four live games on Sky Sports than our Spanish football expert Guillem Balague. If you've got a question for Guillem, send it in here.
Real Madrid v Valladolid
Valencia v Barcelona
Athletic Bilbao v Sporting Gijon
Osasuna v Atletico Madrid

Real Madrid v Valladolid (second half)
8.00pm, Sat, Sky Sports 2 & HD2

Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be out for three to four weeks. Real Madrid are really upset with Portugal because they forced him to play when he wasn't completely ready, or at least that's the way Real Madrid understand it. It means the player that hides all of Real Madrid's underlying problems won't be available. Real's problem is that they don't build their football, they don't dominate games and they don't pass or keep the ball for long enough. So while all that improves - and they will get better with the likes of Xabi Alonso, Kaka and Esteban Granero involved - the goals of Ronaldo have been hiding the big problems. You don't build Rome in a day, it is going to take some time, but now they need Karim Benzema to step up his game and for Kaka not to disappear in big games - and also not to appear only at the Santiago Bernabeu. I don't think Valladolid will be much of a problem for them. I do see a repetition of a pattern that we saw last season; an hour of Real trying to score and then beating teams easily in the second half. I think that will be the case here. Valladolid may be tactically well organised but they have a problem scoring goals.

Valencia v Barcelona
9.00pm, Sat, Sky Sports 2 & HD2

This should be a great game. It's a shame about the absences of Carlos Marchena and probably David Villa. His injury will be confirmed during the week, but he has harmed a muscle and it is likely he will have to wait until the following week to return. At the moment, the thinking of Valencia coach Unai Emery is to rest him, but the original plan was to have a really strong midfield with Marchena involved. Because that has failed, there is a slight chance that Villa will be risked if the doctor says he is okay. The plan for Valencia is still to have a very strong midfield, but it will be David Albelda, Ruben Baraja and probably Ever Banega, who haven't got the dynamism and physical presence of Marchena. But of course, everything is down to counter attacking and the pace of David Silva, Mata and Pablo. We'll see who plays up front, maybe Nikola Zigic. Meanwhile, Barcelona's players will be tired because they had 11 players away on international duty. Valencia had a few as well, so I don't think we will get a surprise result. But in any case it should be a very watchable game.

Athletic Bilbao v Sporting Gijon (second half)
7.00pm, Sun, Sky Sports 1 & HD1

Athletic Bilbao started the season really strongly, coinciding with the fact they started pre-season training earlier than anybody else in order to qualify for the Europa League. More recently they have been struggling to maintain that level because the quality of the squad doesn't allow them to do so. In any case, they're playing a team in Sporting Gijon that have learned their lessons from last season. They are much more solid at the back, but they are always offensive. I think it will be one of those box-to-box games that English fans like so much. It might sound obvious, but the winner will be the team that is more effective up front. If Fernando Llorente is recovered after having spent a day in hospital then Athletic Bilbao should probably be favourites. However, it's a shame we won't see Muniain, the new 17-year-old Athletic Bilbao star because he's with the national side at the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria.

Osasuna v Atletico Madrid
8.00pm, Sun, Sky Sports 1 & HD1

Let's see who comes back happier from the midweek games; Kun Aguero or Diego Forlan? They are playing against each other on Wednesday as Argentina and Uruguay battle it out for World Cup qualification. As the Atletico manager Abel Resino said privately, that's the last thing the club needed. He doesn't want either to be unhappy and needing to play in a play-off or be knocked out of the World Cup at this stage. We'll see what happens there. Despite the victory against Zaragoza, Atletico Madrid is still a team with lots of deficiencies. The good news is that Ignacio Camacho is returning to the side after injury and everybody seems to have stepped up their level, especially Simao. But we do need to see more from Kun Aguero.

Guillem answers your questions...

Got a question for Guillem? Then send it in here or use the feedback form below, and then look out for his answer next week. SERIOUS ABOUT SEVILLA
Hi Guillem. Great work. A question - after their recent victory over Real Madrid do you think Sevilla can go on and threaten the domination of the big two? Trevor Hassall (Sevilla fan) GUILLEM REPLIES: Thanks for your nice words. I don't think Sevilla have the financial muscle to challenge Real Madrid and Barcelona but I'm pretty certain they will go all the way to the last month to challenge for the title, even if they don't get it in the end. On the other hand, I think they've got a team that can challenge for the Champions League and they could win that competition. They've proved in the UEFA Cup that they are very good in knockout games because they don't speculate, but they can if they need to. That dual personality is a big plus, as is the fact they have two quality players per position. They defend well and they work hard in midfield and have the team to take you to a final. Then the three forwards and Jesus Navas can win you the final. They've got everything you need to win the Champions League. BENZEMA'S BUST-UP
Hi Guillem. Is it true the reports about Benzema having a "bust up" with Manuel Pellegrini because he doesn't want to play with Raul, and him being substituted all the time? Also is Benzema a better player then Higuain for him to take his place every week? Ali Hussain (Liverpool fan) GUILLEM REPLIES: Benzema asked Pellegrini for a chat on his return from Sevilla, to ask why he was always the first player to be substituted. He suggested that there were other players that might need to be replaced first. They discussed his position and he has said publicly in the past that he plays better off a centre-forward, like Fred at Lyon. He wants to be the number nine striker at Real Madrid, suggesting he is not linking well with Raul. They are often running for the same balls and into the same spaces and they need to learn, as I explained on Revista last week. Is Benzema a better player then Higuain? Well, Higuain scored more goals than Benzema last season, there's no doubt about that, but Higuain has the same problem - he plays better off a striker. If you have to mould a player into that striker role then Benzema is the man. People will have to be patient because I think he's got the potential to be a great player. MAD IN MADRID
Hola Guillem. I have been following the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt religiously and most of the big European nations such as France, Germany and England have not sent their best squads to play in the competition. There are few if any Premier League players playing in Egypt. My question is why on earth is Spain's rising keeping talent Sergio Asenjo playing in this tournament when clearly Atletico need him? Was it the Spanish FA's decision to let him go? Did he want to go? Did Atletico want him to go? What's the situation with that!! Anesu Chingono GUILLEM REPLIES: It's an interesting topic and the Madrid press is making this out to be a big deal. On the one hand, Sergio Asenjo had to go to the World Cup, but Bojan Krkic, who had a little bit of an injury but could have played in the last few games, did not go. It has been suggested that Barcelona may have some influence over the Spanish FA. Atletico Madrid were mad. They didn't ask for the player not to go, but they had another player, Alvaro Dominguez, that had to go as well. The clubs don't have much say over it and there was nothing they could do to stop it happening. The fact that Bojan didn't go made them doubly mad. It is poor organisation from FIFA to hold this kind of tournament at this stage of the season if they want to get the best players going. The debate in Spain was that the country should have sent a much weaker team with Second Division players and players from the reserve sides of the top teams. I guess that's not what FIFA wants so they're going to have to sort something out.