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Barca face tricky Eibar trip in Liga

Madrid: 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. Barca's 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.
"We will need to proceed with caution because a bad result can mean that you suddenly go from having a very good year to not such a good one," Gerard Pique warned this week at a sponsors event, where the talk was of Chelsea rather than Eibar.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, travel to Seville to face Betis hoping to build on their fine Champions League win against Paris Saint-Germain.
Zinedine Zidanes 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.
"We have gone through a difficult phase, but in the last few weeks we have raised our game," Toni Kroos told German media after the PSG clash. "I am confident that we have a lot of success ahead of us." Real are 17 points adrift of Barcelona, but they do have a game in hand to come.
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