Barcelona begin a four-month stretch without injured club record signing Ousmane Dembele, but will be expected to sweep aside Eibar to continue their 100 percent start to La Liga on Tuesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo returns from a five-match ban for Real Madrid 24 hours later at home to Real Betis, whilst Atletico Madrid face a daunting trip to Athletic Bilbao.
Here, AFP Sports highlights four things to look out for in this midweek’s fifth round of La Liga fixtures.
Dembele opens door to Deulofeu
Dembele’s prolonged absence hands Gerard Deulofeu a chance he could only have dreamed about when resigning for his boyhood club in June.
At the time Deulofeu was seen as able deputy to back up a front three of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
But the 23-year-old has already enjoyed over three times as many minutes in his second spell at Barca than his first due to Neymar’s departure and Dembele’s misfortune.
Deulofeu now has the chance he craved of a run in the Barca side until the new year and could even cement his place in the Spain squad for next year’s World Cup if he turns his potential into consistent performances.
Eibar reboot for Suarez
A Suarez was back on the scoresheet for Barca at the weekend, but it was Denis who netted off the bench as Luis endured another 90 minutes to forget.
The Uruguayan has scored just once this season having rushed back from an expected month-long knee injury layoff in just two weeks.
Suarez looks slow, cumbersome and miles off the player who scored 59 goals two seasons ago.
The visit of Eibar could be just what he needs to reboot, though, as he has bagged five in five games against the Basques and scored in all of his last four matches against them.