Real Madrid stutter again as Barca and Atletico marches on

Real Madrid lost their Spanish Primera Liga match against Real Betis on Saturday night. The loss was a major setback for Jose Mourinho's men. The reigning champions are now 11 points behind FC Barcelona and eight points behind Atletico Madrid.

Betis defeated the 'Merenges' by 1-0 on Sunday. The 'Galacticos' complained of poor officiating after Karim Benzema's equaliser was disallowed by the central referee. The capital club have not been in fine form of late and Cristiano Ronaldo has scored just one goal in his last six matches. Mesut Ozil has not been playing at the level he played last season.

Atletico Madrid defeated Sevilla 4-0 on Sunday night. Radamel Falcao scored his fourteenth goal of the season in that encounter. FC Barcelona crushed Levante 4-0 in Valencia. Andres Iniesta scored a goal and provided the three other goals for his club. Lionel Messi grabbed a brace to widen the gap between him and Ronaldo at the top of the scorers' chart.

Barcelona vs Zaragoza preview

FC Barcelona have been in blistering form since the beginning of the current Spanish Primera Liga campaign. Tito Vilanova's men are currently at the summit of the Spanish league with 31 points from 11 matches while Real Zaragoza a re olaced 11th with 15 points.
Alexis Sanchez has been ruled out of the match due to an injury he sustained while playing for Chile on Wednesday. Alex Song and Adriano are major doubts for the Catalans. Spanish international, Sergio Busquets will also not feature for the home team due to suspension.

The visitors
Jose Mari will be fit to face Lionel Messi and his team mates, but the duo of Maurizio Lanzaro and Ivan Obradovic will not feature due to injury problems. Christian Sapunaru and Abraham are other players that will not play this match.

Facts
Lionel Messi remains on top of the scorers' chart with 15 goals and the Argentine will soon be Barcelona's all-time highest goal scorer in the la liga with just seven more goals.
Zaragoza have won four of their last five matches, but they've left the Nou Camp empty handed in the last four years.
A win for Zaragoza could see them move up to sixth while Barcelona will try and extend their lead over Atletico Madrid that will play against Granada later on Sunday.

Real Madrid vs Valencia preview

The Spanish league champions will commence the defense of the title they won last season at the Santiago Bernabeu. Cristiano Ronaldo will be the star attraction as the Los Blancos return to the Spanish scene on Sunday evening. Gonzalo Higuain will feature in Jose Mourinho's line up despite getting a blow in the head in Argentina's 3-1 win over Germany. Luka Modric is not expected to feature for the champions even if he sign for the team before kick off. Pepe will also play this game depite picking up an injury in Portugal's friendly match against Panama. Karim Benzema will be the front man for Jose Mourinho who wants to be called 'The Only One'.

The visitors
Joao Perreira, Fernando Gago and Andres Guardado are expected to make their debut for Valencia following their summer arrivals. Goalkeeper Vincente Guita nad Argentine midfielder, Ever Banega will miss the game due to injury.
Stat

• Gago scored just once in the five seasons he spent at Madrid. 
• March 2008 was the last time the visitors defeated Real at the Bernabeu
• Valencia were 39 points behind their hosts at the end of last season.

Our prediction

Real Madrid 4-1 Valencia

Ronaldo hits goal number 40 as Valencia crush Rayo.

Christiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick to take his Spanish Primera Liga goal haul to 40 this season. The Portuguese International scored a stunning free kick in the 25th minute of action against local rivals, Atletico Madrid in on Wednesday night. French International, Karim Benzema was fouled by Perea and the Portuguese fired in the free kick 30 yards from goal.
In the 55th minute, Adrian curled in a shot that was headed past Casillas by Radamel Falcao. The Colombian thought his side could come back to get a point after that goal, but Real Madrid had other ideas.
Ronaldo picked the ball from the left hand side of the Real attack before he unleashed a deadly shit that flew over the keeper and under the bar to make it 2-1 to the visitors.
Gonzalo Higuain was fouled in the Atletico box by Diego Gordin and the penalty was calmly converted by Ronaldo to make it 3-1. That was his 52nd goal of this current season.
Callejon scored a late goal to make it 4-1 for the Jose Mourinho tutored side.