Real Madrid to dispell doubts away to Espanyol

Real Madrid aim to improve on their recent away record when they visit Espanyol's Cornella-El Prat stadium on Sunday night. Jose Mourinho's team have had a good week with home wins at home to Rayo Vallecano and Ajax, but those home triumphs came on the back of two poor away displays which saw them lose away to lowly Levante and draw at unfancied Racing Santander. Those defeats prompted stories of divisions in the Madrid camp with disagreements between the Spanish players and the Portuguese speaking footballers in the squad. Mourinho attempted to end those rumors by holding a barbecue for his players after Friday's training session and it will be seen if the move has any effect. In purely footballing terms, Real Madrid are without Karim Benzema: the striker damaged a groin muscle against Ajax on Tuesday and will be replaced by Gonzalo Higuain in the starting 11. Angel de Maria is also absent after his sending off against Rayo and will either be replaced by Javier Callejon, who joined Madrid from Espanyol over the summer, or Kaka. Kaka produced his best performance in a Madrid shirt in midweek and Mourinho is likely to favor the Brazilian, who cost 67 million euros over two years ago. Meanwhile defenders Fabio Coentrao and Pepe are still out injured, which means the impressive Rafael Varene will continue to partner Ricardo Carvalho in central defense. Espanyol meanwhile are also without key players with striker Walter Pandiani and defender Jordi Amat both suspended. The Barcelona based side has traditionally been seen as a soft touch for Madrid because of good relations between both clubs, but Espanyol's poor away form (they have lost all of their matches away from home this season) means they need to continue taking points from their home games. Coach Mauricio Pochettino has already highlighted the importance of keeping Cristiano Ronaldo quiet and his side are likely to sit a lot deeper than either Rayo or Ajax did. A win for Madrid will emphatically end talks of crisis, but a failure to take all three points will mean those rumors will continue to linger much longer than the smoke from Friday's barbecue.