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  Barcelona wary of slippery trip; Real up for Eibar

Barcelona wary of slippery trip; Real up for Eibar

AFP
Published : Apr 9, 2016, 2:58 am IST
Updated : Apr 9, 2016, 2:58 am IST

Barcelona must overturn a terrible run of results away to Real Sociedad in recent years to prevent losing their grip on the Spanish title race when they visit Anoeta on Saturday.

Barcelona must overturn a terrible run of results away to Real Sociedad in recent years to prevent losing their grip on the Spanish title race when they visit Anoeta on Saturday.

Despite tasting defeat for the first time in 40 games on their last La Liga outing at home to Real Madrid last weekend, Barca still hold a commanding six-point lead over Atletico Madrid with Real a further point adrift and just seven games remaining.

However, the European champions haven’t won in their last six trips to San Sebastian, including defeats in the last three seasons in La Liga.

Barca have particularly bad memories of their last visit to Anoeta as a 1-0 defeat plunged the club into crisis and left coach Luis Enrique on the verge of the sack.

Luis Enrique had left Lionel Messi and Neymar on the bench as a punishment for arriving back later than their teammates from their Christmas break.

Meanwhile, Champions League considerations are likely to weigh heavily on the minds of Atletico and Real bosses Diego Simeone and Zinedine Zidane.

Atletico can close to within three points with victory at Espanyol before Barca kick-off on Saturday.

Fernando Torres looks certain to start as he will be suspended for the Champions League return leg after being sent-off having opened the scoring at Camp Nou on Tuesday.

Real’s hopes of an 11th European Cup also suffered a huge blow as they were shocked 2-0 by Wolfsburg on Wednesday leaving Zidane’s men needing a monumental effort when the Germans visit the Santiago Bernabeu to progress to the last four.

Having admitted his side suffered physically after their efforts in the Clasico last weekend, Zidane is likely to ring the changes for the visit of Basque minnows Eibar on Saturday.

Location: Spain, Madrid