Three points separate the top four as Sevilla gatecrash the title race
CRITICS of the Spanish League often bemoan that, too often, it’s a two-horse race for the title. When Barcelona fail to win it, Real Madrid become champions and vice-versa. Whilst there’s undeniably some merit in that assertion – across the last 20 years only Valencia, twice and Atlético Madrid have broken the big two’s stranglehold – it’s often been the case that the race to the title has been keenly competitive. This season’s run-in is a case in point. Whichever way things shake out in the end, with five games to play, six for Barcelona, any one of the top four will feel they have a chance of glory.
The midweek Matchday failed to change much, with all of the contenders winning their games to maintain the status
quo. The weekend’s fixtures though were very much different. Firstly, on Saturday evening, that warning I offered up in last week’s pages was shown to be valid as Real Betis earned a thoroughly deserved draw at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano to cause another stumble in Real Madrid’s attempt to defend their title.
It was the second time they had failed to find the back of the net in the last three games and just underscores the increasingly obvious trend that when Benzema draws a blank, there’s precious little back up from the rest of the team. Even the appearance of the lesserspotted Eden Hazard, as a late substitute, failed to spark any joy. At the start of the season, the team looked overly-reliant on the France striker and for months he carried that burden successfully. In the final analysis though, it may be that the failure to provide substantial support for Benzema may well cost Los Blancos the league title.
That draw clearly gave added impetus to Barcelona who faced a tricky fixture away to Villareal. It seemed that the chance to gain ground on the champions might be slipping through their fingers when Chukwueze slotted the home team’s opening goal on 26 minutes, but the joy was short-lived. Antoine Griezmann frustrates as often as he excels but his equaliser, just a couple of minutes later, displayed the cool composure of a striker at the top of his form, coolly lofting over home goalkeeper Asenjo to level things up. His winning strike was also composed, intercepting a back pass to stride clear and finish clinically. In contrast to Benzema and Real Madrid, when Messi isn’t scoring for Barça,
the Blaugrana have others to pick up the baton. The win put the Catalans level on points with Real Madrid, but with a game in hand. That game is played on Thursday, at home to Granada, when a win will put them top of the league.
Down in Andalusia, Lopategui has been quietly nudging Sevilla along under the radar with pundits concentrated on the top three. As they have each taken a turn in slipping up though, Los Palanganas have been quietly going about their work, with seven wins and a draw in their last eight games. The weekend saw them entertain Granada and, despite a late fright after an injury time Soldado penalty, goals from Rakitic and Ocampos were sufficient to keep things bubbling away nicely. With Real Madrid and Barcelona on 71 points, Sevilla’s victory moved them onto 70, and with every chance of a real tilt at the title if they can maintain their winning ways.
All of this, of course, could have looked like so much background noise had Atlético won their game on Sunday evening. A visit to the San Mames is never easy but, with the prospect of a victory taking his club five points clear of the chasers, El Cholo would have been sparing little in his motivational team talk. For so long though, it looked like an early Berenguer header would stymie Atleti’s aspirations and, when Savic headed home from a corner with just a dozen minutes to play, a point felt like a Get Out of Jail Free card. Even a draw would have given Los Colchoneros sone consolation, but that was denied to them when another header from a corner, this time from Athletic’s Iñigo Martínez sent Simeone home with only a scowl and no points.
At this stage, and with predicting results a perilous occupation, only a mug would try to call the outcome at season’s end so, using the old footballing cliché, let’s take one game at a time and take a look at the upcoming weekend’s games. Assuming Barcelona defeat Granada, which you have to say looks more than likely, ahead of the games, the Catalans will have 74 points, Atleti 73, Real Madrid 71 and Sevilla 70, but that could all change. As with Real Madrid’s game against Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis, a trip to Valencia may not be the type of inviting fixture that the table suggests. You have to fancy the Blaugrana to triumph, but a draw wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world.
It’s difficult to posit a similar argument for Atlético Madrid’s visit to Elche. Despite a battling victory against Levante last weekend, my local boys remain mired in a relegation fight and El Cholo will have his team seriously ramped up for this game to wipe the defeat in Bilbao away. Anything other than a comfortable win for the visitors would, therefore, be a major surprise.
Real Madrid cannot afford any more slip-ups and a home game to Osasuna is unlikely to prove too high a hurdle to get over. Call me a bit presumptious, but I can even see that rarest of occurrences and a goal from Eden Hazard in this one – plus of course at least one from Benzema.
If all of that comes to pass, Sevilla will need to keep up by beating Athletic Club, when the Bilbao team travels the 800kms or so down to the south. Marcelino’s team can be difficult to beat – just ask Simeone – but a league record of ten wins, eleven draws and the same number of defeats illustrates that stringing a couple of wins together has hardly been a recurring pattern for the Basques this season, especially with the win over Atléti following a run of drawn games. A Sevilla win looks the most likely outcome.
There’s a whole lot of assumption going on in the predictions above but, and it’s a big but, should things pan out as suggested, it’ll be another Matchday ticked off, and three points will still cover the top four; now though, with only four games for each to play. Tell you what, this one is likely to go to the wire.