'Never thought I'd get this chance'
Before their Champions League clash with Chelsea in London, Lionel Messi and Barcelona put their unbeaten record in La Liga on the line against Eibar in the rather less glamorous surrounds of Ipurua on Saturday.
The modest 7,000-seat ground in the Basque Country welcomes a Barca side who have laboured to draws against Espanyol and Getafe in their last two outings.
Those results have allowed Atletico Madrid to cut Ernesto Valverde's side's lead at the top of the table to seven points, with the clubs due to meet at the Camp Nou early next month.
Barca's advantage is still significant, and they have no injury worries, but the danger is that the return of the Champions League is a distraction.
"We will need to proceed with caution because a bad result can mean that you suddenly go from having a very good year to not such a good one," Gerard Pique warned this week at a sponsor's event, where the talk was of Chelsea rather than Eibar.
The Basque side, though, have lost just once -- a narrow 1-0 defeat to Atletico -- since the start of December, and are in contention to qualify for Europe.
"We have been playing well for the last two months and getting good results, but we know what we have in front of us on Saturday," warned their coach Jose Luis Mendilibar, once a colleague of Valverde's in their playing days.
Atletico host Athletic Bilbao on Sunday and will be hoping to have Diego Costa back after the striker sat out the Europa League trip to Copenhagen.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, travel to Seville to face Betis hoping to build on their fine Champions League win against Paris Saint-Germain.
Zinedine Zidane's side are still fourth in the table behind Valencia -- who go to Malaga -- but they have taken 10 points from the last 12 available in the league.
"We have gone through a difficult phase, but in the last few weeks we have raised our game," Toni Kroos said after the PSG clash. "I am confident that we have a lot of success ahead of us."Roger Federer can become the oldest world number one on Friday, a remarkable achievement for the 20-time Grand Slam title winner who admitted he "never imagined" he'd get the opportunity.
The 36-year-old faces Dutchman Robin Haase in the quarter-finals of the Rotterdam Open where victory will allow him to replace old rival and close friend Rafael Nadal at the top of the rankings.
The Swiss would surpass Andre Agassi, who held the top spot in 2003 aged 33 years and 131 days.
It would be Federer's first time back at the summit since October 2012 having first claimed the top spot in February 2004.
"This is an exciting challenge, I've struggled to try and get there. I had to win a lot of matches last year," said Federer who was as low as 17 in the world in January last year before he returned to form with the Australian Open title.
"I never imagined this after my knee surgery. Number one is a tough place to get to.
"The most important thing is to be healthy, I would have had great regrets if I had not come here this week. I'm very excited for tomorrow's match, I can't wait for it to come around."
Federer moved into the quarter-finals on Thursday with a hard-fought 7-6 (10/8), 7-5 victory over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.
"Tonight was complicated, I had to fight and struggle," said Federer who has won three of the last five majors.