Defending champions Barcelona are looking for a 16th successive La Liga victory when they host Atletico Madrid on Saturday.

Barca equalled the record of 15 consecutive wins set by Real Madrid during the 1960/61 season with last weekend’s 3-0 victory at Hercules.

Atletico, however, have been one of the Catalan side’s few bogey teams in the past six years, but in the last three league meetings between the pair at the Nou Camp the home team have won 5-2, 6-0 and 3-0.

Atletico are also in poor form, winning just one of their eight league and cup matches in 2011 while losing four of their last five.

Last weekend they lost 2-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao and are now five points behind the Basque club, who hold the sixth and final European berth.

New signing Juanfran Torres believes Atletico can cause an upset.

“We haven’t had the best results since my arrival and we had a poor spell in January. We’re in February now and we’re going with the mentality that we can win in Barcelona and from there we’ll start a positive run,” said the former Osasuna winger.

“We’re going to Barcelona to win. People can think what they want. With Osasuna, a more modest team than Atletico, I’ve gone there to win and we did just that two years ago.

“This team is capable of beating Barcelona and we have the players to do it.”

Barca go into the match having cruised through to the Copa del Rey final in midweek, beating Almeria 3-0 in the second leg of their semi-final to record an 8-0 aggregate victory.

With the final not only April 20, coach Pep Guardiola is keen to turn his attention to the league.

“On Saturday we are playing, historically, one of the best teams, which is Atletico Madrid,” he said.

Barca’s opponents in the Copa del Rey final will be arch rivals Real Madrid, who knocked out holders Sevilla in their semi-final, winning the second leg 2-0 at home for a 3-0 aggregate win.

Madrid’s best hopes of a trophy this season appear to be in the cup competitions as they fell seven points adrift of Barca in the title race after a 1-0 loss at lowly Osasuna last weekend.

Jose Mourinho’s men will look to get back on track on Sunday when they host Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu, where Madrid have won their last 20 competitive games.

In this weekend’s other La Liga fixtures, third-placed Villarreal face neighbours Levante, while fourth-placed Valencia host Hercules at the Mestalla.

Valencia missed the chance to equal a club-record six successive victories when they were held 1-1 by fourth-bottom Racing Santander on Monday.

Racing, who were taken over by Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed last weekend, travel to Real Zaragoza, while improving Sporting Gijon search for a third successive win at Athletic.

Also, rock-bottom Malaga are at Andalusian rivals Sevilla, second-bottom Almeria meet fifth-placed Espanyol, Getafe take on Deportivo La Coruna and Real Mallorca go to Osasuna.