With La Liga leaders Barcelona on the other side of the world playing in the 12th FIFA Club World Cup against such household names as Auckland City, Club America and Sanfrecce Hiroshima, this week's iteration of games in Spain will obviously, and painfully, have to take place without them.

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Atletico

Upon their return to Spain as the inevitable champions they may see that their spot at the acme of La Liga has, at least temporarily, been taken over by Atletico Madrid who travel this week to the Costa Del Sol to take on a struggling Malaga side who have won only once in their last six games in all competitions. Conversely, Diego Simeone's charges have won their last nine games in all competitions having battled out a 2-1 win last weekend against Athletico Bilbao and beating Reus Depotiu during the week in the fourth round of the Spanish Copa Del Rey. Inevitably, following Jose Mourinho's departure from Chelsea, the London behemoths have, it seemed, already approached Simeone with the intention of him being Mourinho's long term successor, after Guus Hiddink sees them through to the end of the season. However, even Simeone himself is unsure that this a role that would suit him and given how well his team is doing thus far this campaign, he is unlikely to be swayed from task. He even continues to remain confident that Fernando Torres can break out of his goal scoring drought, even though El Nino has only scored twice in his 21 appearances for Atletico so far this season. The last time he scored was back in September. Such is assured belief that currently envelops Simeone and his men.

Malaga have been mired in mediocrity for most of the season so far, having won only three games in the league and losing their last three on home soil. They have only managed to keep one clean sheet in their last eight matches and we doubt they will improve upon that this weekend. Although Atletico have lost midfielder Tiago to injury they still have the very versatile Niguez to ply his trade across the middle with Koke and Gabi. Martinez is struggling to regain fitness but with himself Vietto and Griezmann all options up front we cannot see how Atletico will be heading back north on Sunday evening as anything but La Liga leaders.

Real

Real Madrid will be more than anxious to reignite their La Liga thrust this weekend as they host basement dwellers Rayo Vallecano in what should, again, be an orthodox three point swoop for Los Blancos. Their surprise loss last week at Villarreal will demand an immediate response and given that their home record this campaign thus far only includes one loss, we would expect Ronaldo et al. to go on a rampage against a Rayo team which has only won one of their last six games. That win came in the Copa Del Rey. This is a must win game for Benitez and his squad and if Real cannot beat a team which has only won twice in their last ten La Liga outings then they don't deserve to keep company with Barca and Atletico.

Celta

Fourth place Celta Vigo, who are only two points behind third place Real, will also be involved in a very winnable affair as they head to Andalucia to take on a Granada team just above the relegation zone and sitting precariously fourth from bottom. The Galicians notched up their eight win of the season last weekend beating Espanyol 1-0 in a game wherein they could, realistically, have scored four or five. Granada have only managed to glean 14 points from 15 matches so far this year and although they managed to claw out of the relegation zone last weekend with a 2-1 win over bottom of the table Levante, we doubt this marks a point where the southern team can now enjoy a consistent spot of form. Therefore, although Celta will be without the in-form Nolito who is on the same number of goals as Benzema and Griezmann - eight - we think that the Galicians will be heading home with all three points - and fourth place - still in hand.

Villareal, who reside just one point behind Celta Vigo will be on a high from their surprise defeat of Real Madrid last weekend and will head to Real Sociedad optimistic that they can snatch another three points from a team plagued with inconsistency and sitting in an unimpressive 13th league spot. Last week's display by "El Submarino Amarillo" against Real was laced with conviction and from the first whistle their intent was clear. They attacked with a ferocious purposefulness that saw them take an early - and what would ultimately prove to be insurmountable - lead through Roberto Soldado. Their opponents, Real Sociedad, have experienced two wins, three losses and a draw in their last six matches and although we think the Basques will present their guests with challenges, we would expect Soldado and co. to be heading home with at least a point in the bag. At least.

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