La Liga 2011: Real Madrid play Osasuna, Barcelona take on Athletic Bilbao

Two important games in the La Liga then this weekend will see Real Madrid host Osasuna, while Barcelona will travel away to play Athletic Bilbao.
Real Madrid v Osasuna Real Madrid will resume their La Liga campaign this weekend against Osasuna at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid after a win in the Champions League in midweek that guaranteed their qualification to the knock out stage.

Cristiano Ronaldo completed 100 goals for the club with two fantastic strikes against Lyon and is in great form at this point of time. Strikers Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema are also in good touch at the moment while Mesut Ozil and Angel di Maria keep stamping their class in the games that they play. Xabi Alonso has been absolutely brilliant for the los blancos so far controlling midfield as if it were child’s play.
The defenders too have been quite good with Pepe excelling alongside experienced campaigner Ricardo Carvalho. Sergio Ramos has been a rock on the right side of defense while the battle between Marcelo and Fabio Coentrao can only be good for the team.
Kaka, Nuri Sahin, and Alvaro Arbeloa are doubtful for the match after missing the champions league game in midweek. There are no major headaches for Jose Mourinho as he looks to keep his Real side on top of the La Liga.
Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona Barcelona will look to keep up the pressure on fierce rivals Real Madrid as they look to capitalize on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao, who are at home.
Barcelona threw away their game against Sevilla as Lionel Messi failed to score for two consecutive matches. But, the little magician followed that lean spell with a couple of hat tricks on the trot. In midweek, we saw a fabulous hat trick from Lionel Messi, which guaranteed qualification to the next stage of the champions league for the defending Champions.
Barca are missing Alexis Sanchez for a while now while Andres Iniesta continues to struggle with a muscular injury which can rule him out of the game. David Villa too has picked up a niggle and it is not certain whether he will be a part of the lineup on Sunday.
We expect to see Xavi and Fabregas in the middle of the park to be anchored by Sergio Busquets. Messi, Pedro, and Adriano are expected to start in attack while Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Dani Alves, and Eric Abidal will form the defense.

Original Source:   http://www.sportspundit.com/soccer/articles/7316-la-liga-2011-real-madrid-play-osasuna-barcelona-take-on-athletic-bilbaoc