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Barcelona can't overlook Malaga

Thu 25th, February 2010

Barcelona, Spain (Sports Network) - Barcelona was held to 1-1 tie at Stuttgart in the Champions League on Tuesday, and returns to La Liga on Saturday against a club in the bottom half, Malaga, that it can't afford to overlook.

Malaga has just six wins all season - Barca has 18 - and sits 31 points behind the La Liga leader. Malaga has scored just 28 goals, or less than half of what Barca has, and has allowed more than twice as many.

It is also a club that has lost just once since Nov. 1. Valencia edged Malaga, 1-0, in early November and in the 14 games since, only Real Madrid has taken a full three points.

Sure, Malaga is just 5-1-8 in that span - but that includes wins at Racing and Atletico Madrid. During Malaga's 15-win season last year, it lost to Barcelona 4-1 and 6-0, but lost just 2-0 in September.

Malaga goalkeeper Francesc Arnau, who started his career at Barca, knows Barca has not been in top form recently but does not think a recent loss at Atletico Madrid in La Liga and the draw against Stuttgart really aid his team's hopes.

"There is never a good time to play Barca," Arnau said.

Malaga visits the Camp Nou this weekend with hopes of moving into the top half of the standings. Malaga is 12th through 23 games, and any result at Barcelona would greatly help the club's chances of another top-half finish.

"It will be difficult because they are a good team. We can't waste this chance at home because we need three points to stay on top of the table," Barcelona's Yaya Toure said.

Barcelona already put the loss to Atletico in the past when it beat Racing 4-0 in La Liga last weekend to maintain a two-point edge over Real and remains the favorite to advance in the Champions League despite the draw in Germany.

Toure added that after a season where Barcelona won six trophies, including La Liga and the Champions League, expectations are unrealistic this season.

"Everybody thinks we're unbeatable, and that's not true," Toure said. "We are human and teams are fired up when they play us."

Not that it needs it, but Barcelona could get a boost this week if Dani Alves is able to return from injury. Barca can't afford another slip up Saturday, or Real could easily take over first as it visits struggling Tenerife.

Also Saturday, Real Zaragoza visits Getafe. On Sunday, Atletico Madrid hosts Valencia, Sevilla hosts Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal hosts Deportivo, Sporting Gijon hosts Osasuna, Racing hosts Almeria, Xerez hosts Espanyol and Valladolid hosts Mallorca.