Eibar in Barca’s way

Confident Real will look to get better of Betis

Madrid, Feb. 16: Before their Champions League clash with Chelsea in London, Lionel Messi and Barcelona put their unbeaten record in La Liga on the line against Eibar in the rather less glamorous surrounds of Ipurua on Saturday.

The modest 7,000- seat ground in the Basque country welcomes a Barca side who have laboured to draws against Espanyol and Getafe in their last two outings.

Those results have allowed Atletico Madrid to cut Ernesto Valverdes sides lead at the top of the table to seven points, with the clubs due to meet at the Camp Nou early next month.

Barcas advantage is still significant, and they have no major injury worries, but the danger is that the return of the Champions League is a distraction for them.

The Basque side, though, have lost just once — a narrow 1- 0 defeat to Atletico — since the start of December, and are in contention to qualify for Europe.

Atletico host Athletic Bilbao on Sunday and will be hoping to have Diego Costa back after the striker sat out the Europa League trip to Copenhagen.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, travel to Seville to face Betis hoping to build on their fine Champions League win against Paris Saint- Germain.

Zinedine Zidane’s side are still fourth in the table behind Valencia — who go to Malaga — but they have taken 10 points from the last 12 available in the league.