Valencia will be out to puncture any euphoria in the Real Madrid camp when the teams open the weekend’s action at Mestalla on Saturday evening and ensure their third place spot, with the chasing Villarreal away at Seville on Sunday night, whilst Bilbao’s derby against Real Sociedad takes on even more importance as they fight to keep their UEFA spot. Meanwhile down at the bottom, Malaga and Hercules face important games in their struggle to avoid the drop, with six pointers against Racing and Deportivo and Zaragoza are at home to Almeria on Monday night.

Madrid back at the Mestalla

Real Madrid are back at Mestalla on Saturday, but Mourinho seems likely to give many of the players who were there on Wednesday a break ahead of the European semi final next week. Di Maria, Adebayor and Khedira are definitely out injured, and the German will also miss next Wednesday’s match and possibly the rest of the season, whilst Lass, Pedro Leon, Canalles, Kaka, Granero, Higuain and Benzema may be given a run out and even Casillas could be rested. Third spot in La Liga guarantees an automatic place in next year’s Champions League and Valencia, who have won their last three games, scoring 12 goals, go into the game full of confidence, though they have lost two out of their last three home games. Villarreal are six points behind Valencia and need a win at Seville on Sunday if they are to continue harbouring hopes of catching Emery’s side, with Seville themselves immersed in the fight for a Europa League place, sitting seventh, level on points with Atletico Madrid and two behind Bilbao, but a distant 11 adrift of Villarreal.

Basque derby at San Mames

Apart from the usual tension surrounding a Basque derby at San Mames, Saturday’s game sees Bilbao and Real in need of points for very different reasons, with the hosts gunning for Europe and the visitors looking for a win to pull them free of the relegation dog fight. Llevant last lost in La Liga in mid-February, when they visited Madrid to play Real, still immersed in the struggle to avoid the drop and on Sunday they are back in the city to face Atletico, knowing that a win could take them to within a point of the UEFA spots. Atletico though, are up in sixth and have lost just one of their last La Liga games and have never been defeated in La Liga at home to Llevant. Espanyol are also still in the battle for a top seven place and after a terrible run of injuries, Pochettino finally seems to be able to choose a settled side for Sunday’s game in Gijon – according to the Espanyol player Chica:"we have got over the flood of injuries and let’s hope we can keep this block of players together”.