Spanish league’s top 4 teams meet in tight title chase

The top four teams in the Spanish league meet this weekend in a round that promises to prove critical to the most tightly contested title fight in years.

Leader Atlético Madrid visits third-place Barcelona on Saturday, a day before second-place Real Madrid hosts fourth-place Sevilla.

Atlético is clinging to a twopoint advantage over both Madrid and Barcelona, while Sevilla is six points adrift with four rounds remaining. Madrid holds head-to-head advantages over Atlético and Barcelona if they finish level on points.

While the title chase features Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Karim Benzema leading their respective teams, some of the added excitement to this season's finale is due to the contenders' flaws.

While Messi's Barcelona has the top attack with 80 goals scored, compared to Atlético's 61 and Madrid's 58, its defense has proven brittle. Madrid, Atlético, and Sevilla, however, can all have nights when their attacks sputter.

Atlético had built a doubledigit lead over its chasers after an excellent first half of the season. Its first league crown in seven seasons seemed theirs for the taking, only for Diego Simeone's side to falter since the turn of the year. Only similar stumbles by Madrid and Barcelona, along with the goalkeeping of Jan Oblak and timely goals by Suárez and Marcos Llorente, have kept Atlético on top.

After struggling to adapt to new coach Ronald Koeman, Barcelona caught fire and went undefeated in 19 games until it lost to Madrid last month. Then came a humbling home loss to Granada last week that cost it the opportunity to take command of the title race.

Simeone knows how to win big matches against Barcelona. In 2014, his team entered a winner-take-all showdown at Camp Nou as leaders with Barcelona in second place. Atlético got the draw it needed to claim the title and break the hold Barcelona and Madrid had on the domestic competition.

They need a similar gritty performance on Saturday, but this time their goal will be a victory.

Correa could start alongside Suárez, who is set to face his old team for the first time after he missed Atlético's first clash with Barcelona this season due to a coronavirus infection.

Suárez leads his side with 19 goals, while Messi leads the entire league with 28.

Koeman will not be in the dugout for Barcelona as he serves the second of a two-game suspension for using inappropriate language when arguing with a referee in the Granada loss. Assistant coach Alfred Schreuder will again take his place after overseeing the team's win at Valencia last round.

Against Sevilla, Madrid will try to bounce back from its 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on Wednesday that knocked it out of the Champions League semifinals on a 3-1 aggregate score.

Madrid's veterans, which included Sergio Ramos and Eden Hazard both recently back from injury, were overrun by the fitter English side.

A win over Sevilla combined with an Atlético loss or draw would lift the defending champions into the lead.

Sevilla will also be looking to recover from a costly 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao earlier this week, when a 90th-minute goal by Iñaki Williams ended Sevilla's four-round winning streak and impeded it from further tightening the race.

Now Julen Lopetegui's team most likely has to win at Madrid to keep its hopes alive of adding to its single league title from 1946.

On the verge of another German title, Bayern looks to future

Besides planning for a recordextending ninth straight Bundesliga title, Bayern Munich has also spent a lot time planning for the future.

Bayern can win yet another title on Saturday even before kickoff against Borussia Mönchengladbach if Borussia Dortmund beats second-place Leipzig earlier in the day. Regardless, a Bayern victory would make certain of the title.

Bayern has been a sure-thing since beating Leipzig last month. Still, a 2-1 loss to Mainz in their last match on April 24 delayed the celebrations.

In the meantime, club management has forged ahead with planning for next season in the wake of Hansi Flick's decision to quit as coach. Flick is favored to take over the German national team after Joachim Löw steps down following this year's European Championship.

Instead, Julian Nagelsmann will be joining Bayern from Leipzig to transform Flick's successful but aging team. His fiveyear contract is unusually long for Bayern and accompanied by a clearout of familiar faces.

David Alaba has been at the club for 13 years but is leaving after Bayern balked at the cost of renewing his contract. Another center back from the 2020 Champions League final, Jerome Boateng, will depart after 10 years in Munich. Defensive midfielder Javi Martinez is off after nine years.

The squad already lacks depth, so much will depend on the quality of replacements.

With the exception of a longplanned move for Leroy Sané, recent arrivals like right back Bouna Sarr and midfielder Marc Roca were generally underwhelming. That contributed to the tension between Flick and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. Bayern defended Salihamidzic by saying the club couldn't spend more during a pandemic, so blockbuster signings like Dortmund forward Erling Haaland seem unlikely.

The only confirmed signing for next season is defender Dayot Upamecano, joining from Leipzig along with Nagelsmann.