Barcelona, Real Madrid out to secure Copa wins

MADRID (AP) — Having established a strong lead over its Spanish league rivals, coach Tito Vilanova this week turns to Barcelona's defense of the Copa del Rey, a competition the Catalan club has dominated in recent seasons.

But archrival Real Madrid will also focus hard on Spain's domestic cup now that the team is 11 points adrift of the league leaders.

Barcelona continues its quest for a record 27th Copa del Rey title by hosting the second leg of the fourth round against third-division club Alaves at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Real Madrid welcomes third-tier club Alcoyano to the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday following a 1-0 defeat against Real Betis in the league.

Barcelona emphasised that it had a busy week ahead, hosting Alaves and Athletic Bilbao "in a week without rest."

"Another week with double duty at the Camp Nou," the club said on its website.

This looked like a direct response to Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho's outburst Saturday when he said other clubs somehow got better deals in the Spanish league's schedule of play.

"It's obvious that other teams have more control over their fixtures than we do," Mourinho said after the Betis loss.

"I try to be fair and objective and I don't reach for excuses when my team loses," Mourinho said. "But it's obvious that if you play on Wednesday, you shouldn't play again on Saturday."

The Portuguese coach was also unhappy with the level of commitment and physical stamina being shown by some of his players.

"When I see (Radek) Stepanek, at the age of 34, playing three consecutive Davis Cup final matches and dying to win for his country, I think that players who are 23 or 24 years old should be able to play two games in four days," Mourinho said, referring to the Czech Republic's Davis Cup win over Spain where Stepanek played three best-of-five matches in as many days.

Mourinho was contrasting this to the poor performance he has seen from some of the younger members of his squad.

The 24-year-old Mesut Oezil was substituted by Mourinho at halftime with Madrid trailing Betis 1-0.

The coach has made critical comments about the Germany midfielder before, notably prior to Madrid's match against Ajax in the Champions League.

"He's playing less because he's not showing me quality," Mourinho said of Oezil. "When he delivers the quality we expect of him, he'll get more minutes. You have to earn your place here."

The cup holders will be missing Dani Alves, Marc Bartra, Marc Muniesa, David Villa, Isaac Cuenca, Alexis Sanchez and Eric Abidal, who are all out with injury.

Atletico Madrid, currently in second place in the Spanish league, continues to impress under coach Diego Simeone, a former Atletico midfielder and Argentina international who helped the team win both the league and Copa del Rey titles in the 1995-96 season.

Also on Tuesday, Rayo Vallecano hosts Las Palmas, Sporting Gijon visits Osasuna, Real Sociedad entertains Cordoba, Real Betis welcomes Valladolid and Cacereno makes the trip to Malaga.

On Wednesday, it's: Valencia vs. Llagostera; Atletico Madrid vs. Real Jaen; Levante vs. Melilla; Getafe vs. Ponferradina; and Espanyol vs. Sevilla.

On Thursday, it's:s Celta vs. Almeria; Granada vs. Zaragoza; Mallorca vs. Deportivo; and Athletic Bilbao vs. Eibar.