Real Valladolid vs. Barcelona: Preview and TV schedule

Barcelona continue their pursuit of first placed Real Madrid with a trip to the northeast of Spain to face relegation battlers Real Valladolid. The Blaugrana were rocked this week by captain Carles Puyol's announcement that he'll be leaving the club this summer, but there's little time to react with the title race still on.

Gerardo Martino will not allow his team to use their busy international schedule as a excuse against Valladolid. 13 Barca players were traveling during the mid-week for friendlies but it appears they managed to avoid any serious injuries in the process. Barca recovered from a lost against Real Sociedad with a 4-1 win over Almeria last week. While it was unconvincing with two goals coming late, points are points and wins are wins.

Valladolid's season has been a massive struggle to say the least with Juan Ignacio Martinez's team stuck in the drop zone, three points behind Almeria of the final safe spot in the table. Valladolid have been drawing games like crazy this season -- 11 overall and four of their last five matches have ended tied -- and they need to start finding ways to get three points instead of one if they hope to remain in the top division next season.

Out: Andrés Iniesta (personal reasons), Carles Puyol (muscle), Jordi Alba (muscle). In Doubt: Gerard Piqué (calf).

Real Valladolid: Diego Mariño, Antonio Rukavina, Jesús Rueda, Stefan Mitrović, Carlos Peña, Álvaro Rubio, Daniel Larsson, Fausto Rossi, Valdet Rama, Manucho, Javi Guerra

Barcelona: Victor Valdés, Dani Alves, Marc Bartra, Javier Mascherano, Adriano, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Cesc Fábregas, Alexis Sánchez, Lionel Messi, Neymar.