Madrid - Spanish football fans can hardly believe their eyes when they see Real Madrid and Barcelona near the bottom of the league table.

Not for more than 30 years have the "big two" both lost their opening league games.

But that was exactly what happened two weeks ago, when Real went down 2-1 in La Coruna and Barca crashed 1-0 away to newly-promoted Numancia.

Now the twin giants are determined to score their first wins, in front of their own demanding fans.

On Sunday, Real take on a Numancia side euphoric after their shock defeat of Barca.

"We will have nothing to lose on Sunday," said Numancia coach Sergio Kresic. "All the pressure will be on them, not on us."

Indeed it will be. Anything less than a handsome win will increase the pressure on Real coach Bernd Schuster, who is still to be hard moaning about then club's minimalist transfer campaign.

Rafael Van de Vaart, Real's only summer signing, will make his Liga debut after missing the La Coruna defeat through suspension.

A man under even more pressure than Schuster is Barca boss Josep Guardiola, after the Numancia meltdown.

Guardiola's first home league game will be a stern test, against spìrited Racing Santander, who finished sixth last season.

Guardiola will have to choose between fading veteran Thierry Henry and promising greenhorn Bojan Krkic.

Bojan, just turned 18, made his long-awaited Spain debut on Wednesday in the 4-0 thrashing of Armenia.

Also on Saturday, leaders Atletico Madrid are away to Valladolid, whilst Sevilla play hosts to newboys Sporting Gijon.

Sunday's other games, in addition to the Real-Numancia clash, are: Getafe-Betis, Recreativo Huelva-Espanyol, Villarreal-Deportivo Coruna, Mallorca-Osasuna, Malaga-Athletic Bilbao and Almeria-Valencia.

The Almeria-Valencia clash will be a big draw because of the return to the southern port of Unai Emery.

Last season Emery, just 36, surprisingly guided newly-promoted Almeria to a creditable eighth-place finish. Now he returns to town in charge of a Valencia side that will be missing David Silva - but will have Spain hero David Villa leading the attack.