Villa, Valdes in spotlight as Barca prepare for Malaga test

Madrid - The spotlight will shine on various players when La Liga leaders FC Barcelona take to the pitch in Malaga’s La Rosaleda Stadium Sunday evening.

Barca are aiming to reach the midway point of the season unbeaten and maintain their 16 point lead over Real Madrid and 11 point advantage over second placed Atletico Madrid, reports Xinhua.

It is unlikely coach Tito Vilanova will be in the dug-out for the game after flying to the United States for a second opinion on his cancer treatment, which means his assistant Jordi Roura will again take charge of the team as he did for the 3-1 win in Valladolid before Christmas and Thursday’s 5-0 Copa del Rey triumph over Cordoba.

The Cordoba game saw David Villa score twice and one of the questions hanging over the game is whether Villa will have done enough to earn a place in the starting 11 alongside Leo Messi and Pedro Rodriguez.

The probable answer is “no” given that in the club they still believe Villa has to reach peak fitness after breaking his leg in December 2011, a fact that was born out as the striker suffered cramp 13 minutes from time Thursday and had to leave the pitch and Barca with just 10-men for the closing minutes of their cup tie.

Goalkeeper Victor Valdes has also made the headlines in recent days with controversy over whether or not he will extend his contract with the club beyond the end of June 2014. Barcelona’s director of sport Andoni Zubizarreta says negotiations are under way which is contradicted by Valdes’ agent Gines Carvajal while Valdes himself posted a “tweet” saying he had not decided over his future.

Barca are at full strength for the game while Malaga will prove tough rivals despite a slow start to 2013 which saw them lose away to Deportivo la Coruna and struggle to overcome third tier Eibar in the cup.

Nevertheless players such as Izco, Joaquin Sanchez and former Barca striker, Javier Saviola mean Malaga are a potent attacking threat and Barca’s defence will have to be at its best.

Finally to add more interest to the game, Sunday is the first of three meetings between the two teams in less than a fortnight given that they will also go head to head in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal, with the first leg in the Camp Nou Wednesday night.