Barcelona were superb in beating Milan 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday and coach Frank Rijkaard will hope that confidence spills over into domestic action.

Many pundits believe Deportivo's poor form this season, including in the Champions League where they have yet to win in four games and went down 1-0 at home to Liverpool on Wednesday, means they will be easy meat for the carniverous Catalans, but Barca captain Carles Puyol counselled otherwise.

"Deportivo may not be enjoying good times at the moment but they are still a great team and they have had some good games in the Nou Camp," warned Puyol.

Barcelona fans need only to turn the clock back 12 months for confirmation with the Galicians winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Albert Luque and Sergio Gonzalez, both of whom are expected to be in the starting lineup on Saturday.

"I still remember that game vividly," added Barca's Dutch defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

"We all thought we were going to win that one. What we have to do is keep our concentration and carry on in the same confident manner we had against Milan. But Deportive will be looking to end their streak and will be very dangerous," added the former Arsenal players.

Both sides came through their mid-week Champions League commitments realtively unscathed, although Barca's Samuel Eto'o admitted to being rather battered and bruised after some full-blooded attention by the Milan defenders.

Deportivo coach Javier Irureta is expected to opt for Diego Tristan as his main target man and drop his out-of-form Uruguayan international striker Walter Pandiani.

Barcelona have 23 points from their nine games and a six-point advantage over second-placed Sevilla, who play host to relegation-threatened Real Mallorca on Sunday.

Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros will run the rule over their squad in the wake of their UEFA Cup tie against Alemannia Aaachen on Thursday but already knows that he will have to bring in reinforcements following the suspensions of defender Javi Navarro and midfielder Jose Luis Marti.

Real Madrid are third, ahead on goal difference of Real Zaragoza and Levante who all have 16 points, and the 29-times Spanish champions face a trip to Malaga on Sunday.

"The pressure is on us because of the gap between ourselves and Barcelona. It's a long way to the end of the season and everythinbg is far from decided yet but we can't let the gap grow any more," said Real coach Mariano Garcia Remon.

Malaga coach Gregorio Manzano was happy to adopt the role of underdog on Thursday and warned that even dogs of this particular variety can bite.

"I've seen it a number of times, when Real Madrid think they are playing an inferior team they sometimes get distracted and only come out with half their minds on the job in hand," said Manzano.

"OK, so Real Madrid don't always need to play at 100 percent to win but Malaga is capable of springing some surprises," he added.

Malaga will be without their suspended striker Clever Romero but will still have plenty of firepower in the shape of their summer signing Paulo Wanchope. The Costa Rican international has already found the net four times, including several spectacular long-range strikes.

FIXTURES
Saturday (kick off GMT): Barcelona v Deportivo La Coruna (1900), Albacete v Real Betis (2100)

Sunday: Getafe v Valencia (1600), Levante v Athletic Bilbao (1600), Racing Santander v Numancia (1600), Real Sociedad v Espanyol (1600), Sevilla v Real Mallorca (1600), Villarreal v Osasuna (1600), Malaga v Real Madrid (1800), Atletico Madrid v Real Zaragoza (2000)