A dejected Schuster seemed to have thrown in the towel following Madrid's morale-crushing 4-3 home defeat to Sevilla yesterday, and he admitted after the game that "right now it's not possible to win at the Nou Camp".

That defeat left Los Blancos nine points adrift of their arch-rivals, and to make matters worse for the champions they are set to be without the suspended Arjen Robben and Marcelo for the trip to Barca.

Pep Guardiola's Barca meanwhile have won 11 of their last 12 league games and are unbeaten since the opening day of the season.

They have seen off the challenge of title contenders Sevilla and Valencia in their last two fixtures while scoring seven goals in the process and conceding just once.

But while an atmosphere of doom and gloom continues to mount inside the Bernabeu, Raul insists the Madrid players know they can get a result against Barcelona.

And more importantly, he believes Schuster knows it too.

"The squad is convinced we can beat Barca," he told Marca. "We know they're going through a great spell, they have a lot of confidence, and it'll be very difficult, but we can take all three points.

"Schuster, behind closed doors, has told us we can beat any team. We know we're capable of doing Barcelona a lot of damage in Saturday's game.

"We're not going to allow our heads to drop, we'll never do that. Nobody should write us off, we still have a lot to say. We know what badge we play for."

The Madrid captain also believes it is too soon to rule his side out of the title race if they fail to win in the Catalan capital.

When asked if defeat would spell the end of their title challenge Raul answered: "(It's not over) even if we win, come on, it's just a step forward.

"If we lose or draw there are still a lot of games and points and the Champions League left to play."

Madrid now enter a crucial point in the season, as they know they can ill afford many more slip-ups in their next three league matches against Barcelona and fellow high-flyers Valencia and Villarreal.

Their task is being made all the harder by the ever-growing list of injuries. Ruud van Nistelrooy was ruled out for up to nine months after undergoing knee surgery, while Gabriel Heinze, Pepe, Wesley Sneijder, Miguel Torres and Ruben de la Red all missed the Sevilla defeat due to injury and health concerns.

Mahamadou Diarra is now another name on the long-term absentee list, as the club confirmed today the Mali international is set to miss the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury.

The 27-year-old underwent arthroscopic surgery this morning on an injury which had plagued him since October 11 when he damaged his knee on international duty.

He is now estimated to be out of action for between "six to nine months", according to the club's website.