Barca saw the defence of their cup crown come to an end last night as they tumbled out at the last-16 stage on away goals.

Pep Guardiola's men, whose cup success of last year was the first of a record-breaking six trophies they won in 2009, won the second leg 1-0 but paid the price for losing the first meeting 2-1 at home.

Barca can feel a little unlucky after laying siege to the Sevilla goal after the break last night, but they found opposing goalkeeper Andres Palop in inspired form and could only make one breakthrough.

The scorer of that solitary goal, Xavi, said: "We had three or four chances so clear that it seemed the second goal had to arrive.

"We've been knocked out, but we are going with our heads held high.

"We have to continue forward. There are two titles left and we will give it everything to win them."

Sevilla may have progressed through to the quarter-finals of the cup but they are in poor form and last night's defeat was their fourth in their last five games.

Three of those losses have come in successive league matches, dropping Manolo Jimenez's side down to fifth.

In contrast, whereas Barca are now out of the cup, they are still sitting pretty in La Liga with a two-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of the table.

Madrid briefly took over at the summit with their 2-0 win over Real Mallorca on Sunday, but Barca reclaimed top spot a few hours later with their 5-0 defeat of Tenerife.

Madrid could do similar this weekend as their match at Athletic Bilbao takes place just prior to Barca's fixture, but Manuel Pellegrini's side will be without in-form striker Gonzalo Higuain.

The Argentinian took his tally to 11 goals in 10 league matches with the opener against Mallorca but later picked up a hamstring injury which will sideline him for around three weeks.

Aside from the matches involving the top two, Saturday's other fixture pits Osasuna against Espanyol.

The remaining seven games take place on Sunday, with a number of intriguing battles at both ends of the table.

Arguably the pick of the bunch pits east coast rivals Valencia and Villarreal against each other at the Mestalla.

Both clubs go into the match having seen their Copa del Rey dreams ended in midweek, with third-placed Valencia losing 4-3 on aggregate to the team immediately below them in the table, Deportivo La Coruna.

Villarreal, meanwhile, were knocked out 2-1 by Segunda Division Celta Vigo after conceding a controversial last-minute penalty in Tuesday's home leg.

There is also an interesting game at the Ono Estadi, where sixth-placed Real Mallorca will look to make it nine home wins out of nine when they take on fellow high-flyers Depor.

At the foot of the table, bottom club Xerez travel to 19th-placed Real Zaragoza hoping to close the six-point gap to their relegation rivals.

Xerez this week sacked coach Jose Angel Ziganda and replaced him with technical secretary Antonio Poyatos on an interim basis.

Also on Sunday, Atletico Madrid will attempt to make it three successive Primera Division wins on the bounce when they host Sporting Gijon, while Racing Santander are at home to Real Valladolid, Almeria meet Tenerife, and Getafe go to Malaga.

Seventh-placed Getafe - who have yet to draw a league match this season - thrashed Malaga 5-1 at home last night to progress through to the last eight of the cup.