Atletico Madrid to host Barcelona in La Liga match

Madrid Feb 24 (IANS) Atletico Madrid will host Barcelona on Sunday in a decisive match of La Liga to define the top places at the table.

Both teams will seek to diminish the difference in points to pursue La Liga leader Real Madrid which recently lost the postponed match against Valencia reports Efe.

Atletico defeated Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League match with an impressive performance thanks to French forward Kevin Gameiro.

Atletico is in fourth place in the table with 45 points while Barcelona is in second position with 51 points one point behind Real Madrid which still has a postponed game to play.

After the 1-2 defeat against Valencia on Wednesday Real Madrid will be hosted on Sunday by Villarreal which holds sixth position with 39 points and will be trying to snatch three points.

Sevilla which is in third position with 49 points will visit 15th placed Real Betis on Saturday with Betis struggling to avoid relegation.

The 24th round of La Liga will start on Friday when 12th-placed Las Palmas will host Real Sociedad in fifth position with 41 points.

Alaves will host Valencia on Saturday as the Oranges have confidence after beating La Liga leader on Wednesday.

Malaga which holds 13th position with 26 points will visit seventh-placed Eibar on Saturday while 17th-placed Leganes will host Deportivo which is in 16th position.

Athletic Bilbao which is in eighth place with 35 points will host Granada on Sunday with El Grana under pressure to dodge relegation.

--IANS
gau/vt