Gerardo Martino afforded his players a day off on Monday and they visit Villarreal on Sunday having not played in midweek for the first time since mid-March.
Atletico and Real, by contrast, were involved in exhausting UEFA Champions League semi-final first legs. Carlo Ancelotti's side host fourth-bottom Osasuna on Saturday and Diego Simeone’s team visit Valencia the following day.
It has certainly been a positive week in Catalunya. They responded to three straight defeats by beating Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, took a step closer to extending Lionel Messi's contract, and had a transfer ban lifted by FIFA.
Villarreal made a superb start to their first term back in the top flight, but Marcelino’s men have won just three of their last 12 games to drop to seventh.
Ancelotti's Real, six points off the pace but with a game in hand on the top two, face an Osasuna outfit unbeaten in four matches – just three days before a decisive trip to face Bayern Munich.
The Italian claimed Cristiano Ronaldo was "only 50 percent fit" in Real's 1-0 win over Bayern on Wednesday, but the Portuguese has since declared himself in "perfect condition".
Elche, unbeaten in eight home games and having kept clean sheets in the last seven of those, will strive to stride towards survival against out-of-sorts Levante on Friday. Two in-form goalkeepers could be central to the outcome: Elche’s Manu, who will be up against his former club, and Keylor Navas, La Liga's player of the month for March.
On Sunday, second-bottom Almeria visit ninth-placed Espanyol while Valladolid travel to Celta Vigo in Monday's fixture.
