Atletico Madrid captain Maxi Rodriguez has urged his weary team-mates to keep on battling as the Rojiblancos continue their daunting sequence of fixtures against Barcelona this weekend.

Atletico are in the midst of six European and Primera Liga matches which could go a long way to defining their season, and a recent spate of injuries and fitness concerns is not helping Javier Aguirre's squad.

Key players such as Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero, Maniche and John Heitinga have all been less than 100% in the last week or so, but regardless of that Maxi knows Atletico cannot afford to lower their standards at all.

Speaking following his side's 2-1 Champions League victory over Marseille on Wednesday night, Maxi said: "We've recorded an important win, but we have to keep on working because the schedule doesn't allow us to stop.

"Now we have to focus on the Barcelona game. We have to give our all in spite of the fact that we're tired due to all these matches, because there are many important encounters awaiting us in the upcoming days."

Atletico's clash with Barca is their third big game in a week, following on from the Marseille match and last weekend's 1-0 home defeat to Sevilla, while the capital club's subsequent three matches are against Real Madrid, Liverpool and Villarreal.

Barca will be a tough nut to crack though, with the Catalan giants on a five-match winning streak that includes Wednesday's remarkable recovery against Shakhtar Donetsk, when Lionel Messi scored twice late on to earn his side a 2-1 win.

Barca and Atletico were not the only Spanish teams to enjoy a successful outing in the Champions League this week, with in-form Real Madrid and Villarreal also winning.

Madrid will now look to make it seven competitive wins out of seven when they welcome Espanyol to the Bernabeu, while Villarreal could extend their unbeaten run to 14 games when they meet Real Betis at El Madrigal.

Villarreal will also look to continue their record as having La Liga's most miserly defence, with just two goals conceded so far.

Worryingly for opponents, the Yellow Submarine's goalkeeper Diego Lopez believes he is not even at top form yet, saying: "I'm very happy with my performances at the start of the season, but I think that I can still improve."

The east coast of Spain does not only provide the leading goalkeeper though, it also provides the top goalscorer with Valencia's David Villa setting the pace with six goals already.

He will hope to improve on that tally as league leaders Valencia travel to Real Valladolid on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Sevilla will be without injured striker Luis Fabiano for around a fortnight, ruling him out of Sunday's match against Athletic Bilbao, while bottom club Sporting Gijon travel to Real Mallorca still searching for their first points of the season.

Two winless clubs clash at the Reyno de Navarra when Osasuna play host to Racing Santander, while Malaga face Andalusian rivals Recreativo Huelva, Deportivo La Coruna are at home to Numancia, and Almeria are away to Getafe.