Espanyol have no love for their neighbors and will give everything to stop them winning the title in a game which promises to be hard for referee Gil Manzano to control.
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All three teams play at the same time on Sunday.
With the gap on the two Madrid sides still one point though, Barcelona absolutely have no room for error and will need to claim victory when they square off against rivals Espanyol in the Derbi barceloní on Sunday.
Mathieu is now ready to make his comeback as Barcelona chase the domestic double, with La Liga games against Espanyol and Granada to come before the Copa del Rey final versus Sevilla.
“Tomorrow we have the chance to be champions”.
As the trio go into their penultimate matches of the season, Atletico Madrid are the only team that seem to have any easy tie away to already relegated Levante.
While Barcelona can concentrate on adding to its 23 league titles, Atletico and Madrid will be looking ahead to their clash in the Champions League final on May 28.
Luis Enrique expects another intense match on Sunday, but sees no reason to worry about a potential repeat of what happened in January.
Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane also said he wanted his players to stay focused on the league title. The only thing is that we have lost our advantage. “While there are minutes remaining we have to believe in our chances, right down until the last second of the last game”.
As Bravo’s absence is certain, one player could return after a long injury layoff. Benzema missed this week’s 1-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday when Bale’s goal sent Madrid into the final of the Champions League.
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This means that the quartet of Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba will be starting at the back while the likes of Marc Bartra and Aleix Vidal will once again have to be content with a place on the bench.
