Villarreal aim to breach Real Madrid fortress

Title hopefuls Real Madrid face their toughest home league match of the season so far when they host third-place Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.

Real have a flawless eight wins at home and hope to make Villarreal their latest victims to stay in touch with league leaders Barcelona who are currently two points ahead.

Jose Mourinho's Madrid have won their last four league matches, but come up against a Villarreal side on a high, after coming from two goals down to beat Valencia 4-2 on Thursday and reach the quarter-finals of the Kings Cup.

Mourinho has been short of strikers with Argentine attacker Gonzalo Higuain out injured.

However, Brazilian international playmaker Kaka is back from injury to boost his attacking options.

Kaka, a 65-million-euro signing from AC Milan, played his first game of the season as a late second half substitute in Monday?s 3-2 win over Getafe after spending six months on the sidelines with a knee injury.

"When you are out injured you miss your team-mates, the dressing room, training and the pressure," said Kaka.

"In Spain I certainly haven't reached my top level and it is a great challenge for me to do that and to play to my best without injuries."

In other matches, Valencia take on Levante in the city derby looking to get over their painful cup exit to Villarreal on Thursday.

Valencia sit fourth, three points above fifth-placed Espanyol, and repeating last season's third-place finish is the target.

Espanyol host third from bottom Real Zaragoza aiming to get over a recent blip of three successive league losses and a last 16 Kings Cup exit.

Espanyol were defeated 2-1 on aggregate by Atletico Madrid after drawing the second leg 1-1 on Thursday so now all that is left is the league.

With the halfway point of the season approaching, Sporting Gijon have sunk to the bottom of the table after failing to win in their last 10 league matches, and their next match is a trip to Racing Santander, also on Sunday.

"It is a worrying situation but things would look different with a win and we need to get it as soon as possible, which is against Racing Santander," said Sporting coach Manolo Preciado.