Ronaldo returns for Real in Madrid derby

World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo returns for a Real Madrid side otherwise stricken by injuries and suspensions as they look to beat Atletico Madrid for the first time in six meetings this season on Saturday.

Ronaldo completed his two-game ban for kicking out at Cordoba defender Edimar as the European champions sneaked past Sevilla to open up a four-point lead over Barcelona at the top of the table on Wednesday.

However, victory came at a cost as World Cup star James Rodriguez broke a bone in his right foot that will keep him out for two months, while centre-back Sergio Ramos will also be sidelined due to a hamstring problem in the coming weeks.

Left-back Marcelo misses out at the Calderon too after his appeal against his fifth yellow card of the Liga campaign was dismissed on Thursday.

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti is short of defensive options with Pepe also out with a rib injury, but he insisted he has confidence in the inexperienced pairing of Raphael Varane and Nacho in central defence.

"What we lose above all is experience, but sometimes enthusiasm is a good thing," said Ancelotti.

"The two of them (Varane and Nacho) give me a lot of confidence. Ramos and Pepe are among the best defenders in the world, but I am not worried."

Atletico have bounced back from their heartbreaking Champions League final defeat at the hands of Real last season to beat them in the Spanish Supercup and Copa del Rey over two legs this season, as well as winning 2-1 at the Bernabeu in La Liga earlier in the campaign.

However, defeat this weekend would see them fall 10 points behind the league leaders and all but end their defence of the title.

"I think it is important because the last games against Atletico weren't good, so we have to change this bad run," added Ancelotti.

"It will be a very difficult game, but we want to do something different.

"The motivation is so big for this game being a Madrid derby we don't need the motivation of leaving Atletico 10 points behind."

In contrast to the visitors, Diego Simeone has a fully-fit squad to choose from for the first time since November and defender Diego Godin insisted their desire to beat their cross-city rivals hasn't been diminished by recent success.

"We want to win, we always want to win and even more so against Real Madrid," said the Uruguayan.

"It is a different game and just because we have won the previous games doesn't mean we will win this one.

"We need to prepare well, continue with what we have been doing and that will help us get closer to the result we want."

Barcelona will be eager to capitalise should Real slip up when they travel to face Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

The Catalans have been in scintillating form since their last visit to the Basque country ended in defeat to Real Sociedad at the beginning of January, winning eight games in a row and scoring 29 goals in the process.

However, they have failed to win in any of their previous three trips to Bilbao, including a 1-0 defeat on their first visit to the new San Mames last season.

Elsewhere, Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal continue their fight for the fourth and final Champions League place.

Villarreal have the easiest task on paper when they host relegation threatened Granada on Saturday.

Sevilla make their second trip to the capital in five days as they travel to Getafe, while Valencia are away to Espanyol on Sunday.

FIXTURES All times CAT (SA, GMT+2)

FRIDAY

Deportivo la Coruna v Eibar (2145)

SATURDAY

Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid (1700), Villarreal v Granada (1900), Levante v Malaga (2100), Real Sociedad v Celta Vigo (2300)

SUNDAY

Cordoba v Almeria (1300), Getafe v Sevilla (1800), Espanyol v Valencia (2000), Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona (2200)

MONDAY

Elche v Rayo Vallecano (2145)

Juve host ailing Milan

Champions Juventus host ailing AC Milan looking to extend their seven-point lead over title-chasers Roma, and the Giallorossi's woes could deepen with Gonzalo Higuain-inspired Napoli now targeting second place.

Juventus spurned the chance to extend their Serie A lead to nine points last week following an unexpected scoreless draw away to Udinese.

But with Roma conceding a fourth draw on the trot, Massimiliano Allegri's league leaders look to be cruising towards a fourth consecutive league title.

"Winning four titles in succession is not an easy feat, especially in such a tactical and physical league," striker Carlos Tevez, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Thursday, told Jtv.

"Winning a fourth consecutive championship would see us make even more history."

Nevertheless, Italy's top flight produced several shock results last weekend and Roma, dumped out of the Italian Cup after a 2-0 home defeat to Fiorentina, have yet to throw in the towel.

Napoli were the only top five team to claim all three points, thanks to a 2-1 win away to Chievo when new signing Manolo Gabbiadini hit a 62nd minute winner.

It was a huge win for Rafael Benitez's men, and its significance did not escape the attention of Roma either. Napoli, who sit 11 points adrift of Juventus, are now only four behind second-placed Roma.

If the injury-hit Giallorossi lose away to Cagliari and Napoli beat Udinese at home, the gap will be reduced to just a point.

Roma striker Gervinho, along with new signing Seydou Doumbia, is still at the Africa Cup of Nations having scored once in a 3-1 win over DR Congo which qualified the Ivory Coast for Sunday's final.

Kevin Strootman (knee) is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines and fellow midfielders Daniele De Rossi and Juan Iturbe are also out with injury knocks.

Even forward Victor Ibarbo, who arrived on a six-month loan deal last week from Cagliari, has been sidelined after making a late substitute's appearance in Roma's Cup defeat on Tuesday.

The pressure is growing on Garcia and the Frenchman admitted: "We need a result at Cagliari to get luck back on our side."

A Roma slip-up would be welcomed by a Napoli side that has lost only twice in 18 games ahead of hosting Udinese at the San Paolo, which is still ringing from the sound of Wednesday's 1-0 Italian Cup win over Inter.

Higuain, whose 93rd minute strike secured the win for the Cup holders, is in fine scoring form having hit the net five times in their past five league games.

Rafael Benitez was quick to hail Higauin's performance, but despite his ambitions in the the Cup, Europa League and Serie A the Spanish coach remains coy.

"It's a bit like asking whether you prefer your Mum or your Dad," Benitez said after Wednesday's win. "All I focus on is our next game."

Inter, meanwhile, host in-form Palermo on Sunday looking to end a sorry run of results that has seen the Nerazzurri drop to 13th, 24 points behind Juventus.

Inter had only two shots on goal against Napoli on Wednesday and Mancini, who won two trophies from four consecutive Cup finals in his previous spell in charge in 2004-2008, did not spare his misfiring players.

"They were like chickens," said Mancini, whose side have lost their past two league outings at home to Torino and away to Sassuolo. "I don't even remember the last time I lost three consecutive games."

Thanks to results elsewhere last week, and a 3-1 win over Parma that ended a five-game winless streak, city rivals AC Milan moved up to ninth at 21 points adrift of Juventus and 10 behind Napoli in third place.

Embattled Milan unveiled several new players on Thursday including Mattia Destro (Roma), Gabriel Paletta (Parma) and Luca Antonelli (Cagliari) - although Juve have yet to concede defeat in the league this season.

FIXTURES All times CAT (SA, GMT+2)

SATURDAY

Verona v Torino (1900), Juventus v AC Milan (2145)

SUNDAY

Fiorentina v Atalanta (1330), Cagliari v Roma, Empoli v Cesena, Napoli v Udinese, Parma v Chievo, Sampdoria v Sassuolo (all 1600), Inter v Palermo

MONDAY

Lazio v Genoa (2145)

It's all or nothing for Black Stars

It has taken Ghana five years to smash their Afcon semi-final jinx, and now they want the icing on the cake.

Black Stars coach Avram Grant has now made his ambitions of winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations final clear. His side fought a tempestuous battle to beat Equatorial Guinea 3-0 on Thursday.

"Everyone talked about the other teams. Now we are in the final and we would want to win the cup."

The 33-year wait for a trophy is something the Israeli wants to conquer, but the opponent to wrestle in Sunday's final will be tough.

"It is good to be in the final especially with Ghana. Before the tournament, nobody gave us a chance.

The Black Stars must regroup after the tiring ordeal in Malabo to face the star-studded Elephants in Bata.

Desert Foxes stay with Gourcuff

Algeria have retained Christian Gourcuff as coach despite the Desert Foxes' quarter-final exit at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Having been in charge of the team since last August 2014 and guided them through the qualifiers for the ongoing African Cup.

But Algeria could not live up to the hype of being the top-ranked African nation for the last eight months and crashed out at the quarterfinals.

"There will be changes within The Greens," Gourcuff said after his job security was confirmed by the Algerian FA.

"Some players are entering their 30s and are preparing to leave the team. We'll have to call up other younger players," the French man added.

"We already have a core of young and good players around which the future national team will be built. We'll only need to reinforce certain areas by other elements for upcoming deadlines, notably the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2018 World Cup."

Algeria has already started seeing a transition, as captain Madjid Bougherra retired from international football after the 3-1 defeat to the Ivory Coast on Sunday.

"It's a different life for me now," said the 70-cap defender.

"Of course you can never say 'I'll never play again' for the national team but in my mind I think it's over."

Algeria are still waiting for a Nations Cup win since 1990.

Tunisia responds to Caf with no apology

Tunisia FA have until February 5 midnight to send a letter of apology to Confederation of African Football (CAF) or to present irrefutable evidence to substantiate their accusations.

The country has refused to apologize and in an interview with supersport.com, the FA spokesperson Nabil Daboussi he revealed their decision following a meeting held to discuss the sanctions.

"I would like to state that during the Tunisia FA executive Committee meeting held on Wednesday, it was decided that the protest letter sent to CAF was based on the poor officiating on the Tunisian- Equatorial Guinea match."

"CAF did take measures to punish the match referee. Tunisia was right in demanding for action."

"The content of the letter remains that the match official commited a multitude of errors. We have on the other hand sent a letter seeking audience with CAF executive for details and where applicable an answer for our requests"

This means that if CAF fails to grant them their wishes, more sanctions will be spelt out and a possibility of expulsion from 2017 African Cup of Nations.

Wakaso scores 1 500th Afcon goal

Apart from increasing his goal tally at this Afcon, Mubarak Wakaso's strike on Thursday was a major Afcon landmark.

With Ghana in a sailing 2-0 lead, a flowing counter-attacking move just before the break ended with Christian Atsu laying a pass for Wakaso to shoot into the bottom right hand corner of 'keeper Felipe Ovono Ovono's net.

That goal is the 1 500th scored in the storied history of the competition, just over eleven years after a similar landmark was reached.

Nigeria legend Austin Okocha scored the 1000th goal of the competition at the 2004 edition against South Africa in Tunisia.

The goal from Wakaso in Malabo simply sealed what had been a dominant show from the Black Stars against the Nzalang Nacional.

Kuffour rips into 'disgraceful' fans

Former Black Stars defender and SuperSport's Afcon pundit Sammy Kuffour has blasted the indignity of Thursday's Afcon semi.

Ghana qualified for the final of the ongoing African Cup but it happened under acrimonious circumstances as a 34 minute delay marred the spectacle.

From the moment Kwesi Appiah was felled in the hosts' box for a penalty to be awarded, Equatorial Guinea fans pelted officials, security men and Ghana players with missiles until late in the game.

"This was very disgraceful to the entire continent, what are we trying to tell our children in future? The whole world is watching the game and to me it's a shame what the people of Equatorial Guinea did," Kuffour said on SuperSport's presentation watched by millions across the continent.

Ghana had flown into a 3-0 in the second half when the half-hearted missiles being hurled earlier turned into full scale antagonism. Tear gas followed, as a chopper encircled the stadium overhead to dissuade angry fans from causing further harm.

"Equatorial Guinea have to face the fact that they are just not good enough. They desperately want to be in the final but the quality of the players that you have, you are not going to get there, and you go and do this, It's a big shame and disgrace to Africa," the former Black Star went on.

Ghanaian supporters were shown on live TV scrambling for their lives as irate fans turned their anger on them. Later, supersport.com witnessed several injuries to fans who had been flown in by the government of Ghana to cheer the team.

"My concern is about the people who are there as Ghanaians to support our team, they are all in danger now and we don't even know what is happening outside the stadium.

"It's a big disgrace and CAF have to punish them severely," Kuffour added.