(Adds Guardiola quotes)
MADRID, April 6 (Reuters) – Brief news from La Liga ahead of
this weekend’s matches (all times GMT):
* Barcelona will be missing Gerard Pique for Saturday’s game
at relegation-threatened Real Zaragoza (1800), the champions
said on their website (www.fcbarcelona.com) on Friday.
The Spain centre back has not recovered in time from a thigh
muscle injury sustained in Tuesday’s Champions League
quarter-final second leg win against AC Milan.
* The Spanish, European and world champions can close to
within three points of leaders Real Madrid with a win at the
Romareda, with Real not playing at home to third-placed Valencia
until Sunday (1930).
With eight games left, including Real’s match at Barca this
month, Real have 78 points, Barca have 72 and Valencia trail on
48, one point more than fourth-placed Malaga, who host
strugglers Racing Santander on Monday (1900).
Jose Mourinho’s Real were 10 points clear of Barca a couple
of weeks ago but draws against Villarreal and Malaga allowed
Barca, who are chasing a ninth straight league win at Zaragoza,
to trim the gap to six.
* Zaragoza, whose season has been wrecked by institutional
woes, have climbed off the bottom after winning three matches in
a row as they bid to avoid the drop to the second division.
Manolo Jimenez’s side have 28 points in 18th, four behind
Villarreal and three ahead of both Santander in 19th and bottom
club Sporting Gijon.
“You have to be realistic, we are talking about a superior
team (Barca),” Jimenez told a news conference on Thursday.
“But they are in our league, a league in which we want to
continue competing. We don’t have the resources they have but we
can come up with something to try to surprise.”
* Barca coach Pep Guardiola believes the presence of five
Spanish teams in the last four of the Champions League (Barca
and Real Madrid) and the Europa League (Atletico Madrid,
Athletic Bilbao and Valencia) proves how competitive La Liga is.
“Personally I am very pleased that so many Spanish teams are
showing Europe and the world there is a good standard (in
Spain),” he told a news conference on Friday.
Guardiola added that Spain playmaker Xavi appeared to have
shaken off a recent injury problem and had trained well on
Friday morning.
* Barca have scored 157 goals in 53 matches in all
competitions this season, with World Player of the Year Lionel
Messi netting 58, and are one short of their best mark under
Guardiola, set in his first season in charge in 2008-09.
They scored 138 during the 2009-10 campaign and 152 last
term on the way to a third straight La Liga title and a second
Champions League crown in three years.
* Real will have to keep close tabs on in-form Valencia
striker Roberto Soldado during Sunday’s game at the Bernabeu,
according to Real centre back Raul Albiol.
“He is a very difficult forward to mark, especially in the
penalty area, because he a born goal scorer and he is very
dangerous with any ball in the area,” Albiol said on Real’s
website (www.realmadrid.com) on Friday.
“I have known him since we were kids and you have to be very
focused to stop Roberto,” he added.
* Valencia’s 4-0 Europa League win at home to AZ Alkmaar on
Thursday, which put them through to the quarter-finals 5-2 on
aggregate, has eased some pressure on coach Unai Emery ahead of
their trip to the capital.
Emery’s side have taken just eight points from their last
eight games, loosening their grip on Spain’s third automatic
qualification spot for the Champions League.
“Within the squad and the internal working group, from the
president down, we are looking for solutions so that the team
can put this negative run behind them,” Emery said after
Thursday’s win at the Mestalla.
* Only six points separate Valencia (48) from eighth-placed
Sevilla (42) in the battle for lucrative berths in European
competition next season.
Fifth-placed Levante (45) are at home to seventh-placed
Atletico Madrid (42) on Sunday (1100) and Sevilla visit King’s
Cup finalists Athletic Bilbao, who are 11th on 38 points, six
hours later.
(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by John Mehaffey)
