Barcelona have the chance to secure themselves another spot in the history books this weekend then they host struggling Atletico Madrid looking for a 16th successive La Liga victory. Barça, continuing their remarkable success of the last few seasons, equalled the record of 15 consecutive wins set by Real Madrid during the 1960/61 season with last weekend's 3-0 victory at Hercules and they will break it if they can down Atletico on Saturday.
Atletico have been one of all-conquering Barça's few bogey teams over the last six years, but in the last three league meetings between the two at the Nou Camp the Catalan outfit have run out winners by scores of 5-2, 6-0 and 3-0. Atletico are also in poor form, winning just one of their eight league and cup matches in 2011 while losing four of their last five.
Last weekend they lost 2-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao and are now five points behind the Basque club, who hold the sixth and final European berth.The pressure is on but new signing Juanfran Torres believes Los Rojiblancos, who successfully spurned advances for several of their leading players during the January transfer window, are capable of causing an upset at the Nou Camp.
"We haven't had the best results since my arrival and we had a poor spell in January. We're in February now and we're going with the mentality that we can win in Barcelona and from there we'll start a positive run," said the former Osasuna winger.
"We're going to Barcelona to win. People can think what they want. With Osasuna, a more modest team than Atletico, I've gone there to win and we did just that two years ago. This team is capable of beating Barcelona and we have the players to do it."
We're going to Barcelona to win. This team is capable of beating them and we have the players to do it.
Juanfran Torres, new Atletico Madrid signing
Barça go into the match having cruised through to the Copa del Rey final in midweek, beating Almeria 3-0 in the second leg of their semi-final to record an 8-0 aggregate victory. Coach Pep Guardiola, who was able to rest many of his stars for the clash with the tie all but over following the first leg, admitted it was confidence booster to have the chance to fight for a title, but, with the final not until April 20, he was was keen to turn his attention to league matters.
"On Saturday we are playing, historically, one of the best teams, which is Atletico Madrid," he said.
Barça's opponents in the Copa del Rey final will be arch rivals Real Madrid, who knocked out holders Sevilla in their semi-final, winning last night's second leg 2-0 at home to record a 3-0 aggregate win. Madrid's best hopes of a trophy this season appear to be in the knock-out competitions as they fell seven points adrift of Barça in the Primera Division title race following their 1-0 loss at lowly Osasuna last weekend.
Real eye Sociedad
Jose Mourinho's men will look to get back on track on Sunday when they host Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu, where Madrid have won their last 20 competitive games.
In this weekend's other La Liga fixtures, third-placed Villarreal face neighbours Levante, while fourth-placed Valencia host Hercules at the Mestalla. Los Che missed the chance to equal a club-record six successive victories when they were held 1-1 by fourth-bottom Racing Santander on Monday night.

Racing, who were taken over by Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed last weekend, travel to Real Zaragoza, while improving Sporting Gijon go in search of a third successive win when they go to Athletic. Also, rock-bottom Malaga are at Andalusian rivals Sevilla, second-bottom Almeria meet fifth-placed Espanyol, Getafe take on Deportivo La Coruna and Real Mallorca go to Osasuna.