La Liga: Real Madrid seek to endorse lead, Barca looks to dispel doubts

Madrid: Real Madrid will be seeking to endorse its La Liga lead on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu against Malaga in the sixth week of the competition.

Madrid climbed to top spot on Wednesday after a 2-1 victory against Athletic Bilbao in the latter's stronghold at the San Mames stadium, reports Efe.

Champions Barcelona is looking to recover from the Celta Vigo 1-4 shock defeat on Wednesday, when it meets with newly promoted Las Palmas at Camp Nou stadium.

Both Celta Vigo and Real Madrid have the strongest attacking line in this season's competition so far. Both teams scored 14 goals throughout the previous five rounds.

The Vigo side comes in second place behind Real Madrid, after snatching six full points from the previous two matches against Sevilla and Barcelona.

Real Madrid will seek to secure its lead when it meets Malaga, currently holding 19th position with two points.

Malaga is the only team that has not scored a single goal over the past five rounds, while Real Madrid's Costa Rican goalie Keylor Navas has only let in one goal against Bilbao.

In another intense standoff, Villarreal, currently in third position with 13 points as well, will play its next home game at Madrigal against Atletico Madrid, holder of the fourth position with 12 points.

Elsewhere, both Valencia and Sevilla seek to end a streak of setbacks, as Valencia won on a single occasion during this season's third round against Sporting Gijon, before losing to Espanyol last Tuesday.

Sevilla needs to put an end to its disappointing start. It has not won a single match since the season started, and remains in the bottom of the standing with only two points.

Valencia will open the sixth week with a match against Granada at the Mestalla stadium.

The sixth round is scheduled to be concluded with four matches on Sunday featuring Sporting Gijon against Real Betis, Deportivo la Coruna versus Espanyol, Getafe against Levante and Real Sociedad against Athletic Bilbao.