Real and Barca trying to keep up with Levante

Everyone in Spain expected Real Madrid and Barcelona to be first and second in La Liga by the end of October.A few Valencia or Sevilla fans may have dared to hope that their teams would be right up there with the twin giants, but surely no one expected modest Levante to command the standings.To the astonishment of the watching world, Levante, many people's favourites for relegation, have won their last seven matches for 23 points from nine games to be one point ahead of Real and two above Barca.On Sunday, Juan Martinez's bargain basement team of recycled veterans will be away to midtable Osasuna. They will be without ancient left-back Juanfran, who was sent off in Wednesday's dramatic 3-2 defeat of Real Sociedad."We just want to enjopy every match at the moment, without looking too often at the league table ... This team of mine is very experienced and psychologically very strong," said Martinez.Martinez' Golden Oldies will likely have to play catch-up as Real and Barca are expected to win their games on Saturday.Barca are at home to Mallorca, without injury victims Pedro, Alexis Sanchez and Ibrahim Affelay. But World Cup-winning defenders Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol should be fit to return.Real, for their part, are away to a technically gifted but brittle Real Sociedad side.Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin might finally be fit to make the trip, though compatriot Hamit Altintop is still injured.As usual, coach Jose Mourinho will have to choose between Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain to lead the attack. Higuain will probably get the nod this time, as Benzema started in Wednesday's 3-0 caning of Villarreal.Also on Saturday, fourth-placed Valencia receive Getafe and troubled Villarreal host to Rayo Vallecano.Anything but a convincing defeat of Rayo should mean the sack for Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido - if he actually manages to survive until Saturday. His team are third from bottom and virtually out of the Champions League already.Sunday's games - in addition to the Osasuna v Levante clash, are Sporting Gijon v Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid v Zaragoza, Malaga v Espanyol and Racing Santander v Betis.The 10th round of games will finish on Monday with an Andalusian derby between fifth-placed Sevilla and bottom team Granada.