La Liga Hangover: Barcelona En Route to La Liga Title, Madrid Clubs' Struggles
Welcome to La Liga Hangover, a weekly column running throughout the season in which we take a light-hearted, though in-depth, look at the key stories and talking points from the most recent weekend of action in Spanish football's top flight. With a focus on the biggest teams, such as Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and a worthwhile nod toward the rest, we examine how the league is shaping up each week and what to look out for going forward.
Title Success Wrapped Up?
Barcelona didn't make things easy for themselves against Las Palmas on Saturday, missing chances and conceding straight after they opened the scoring—but in a fitting tribute to the Catalan team's struggles, the Madrid sides decided to make the path to the title much more straightforward a day later.
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The gap at the top now reads eight points, with a further one separating Atletico Madrid in second from Real Madrid in third.
With a squad replenished in January by some returning to fitness and some becoming available to play, Luis Enrique has the riches he needs at his disposal to mount an unprecedented attack for a double treble.
Barring a huge surprise, the Copa del Rey is already theirs. Final opponents Sevilla have not won in La Liga outside of their own stadium this season and, despite the Andalusians winning the league game between the two in October, look nowhere near consistent enough to beat the league leaders.
The preview of that final is up next gameweek in La Liga, though, so we'll get an early indication of what is possible.
Like an annoying piece of debris floating in the sea in the same spot, Barcelona rode out their periods of stormy waters when injuries struck in September and December, mostly in midfield but also to Lionel Messi. They never fell far enough behind Atletico to worry about their title prospects. Now with everyone fit, they have ridden the crest of the wave, racking up eight wins in succession in impressive fashion.
With it comes the ability to relax a little, even with two slip-ups possible before having to worry about challengers from below, leaving them free to concentrate on the Champions League.
Barcelona's in-game form might not be spectacular on a week-to-week basis, but there's little doubt they can turn it on when it really matters. There are still half a dozen or so Liga games to play that do matter, but it will take a cataclysmic drop-off for Barcelona to not retain their title.
Jornada 25 Results
Levante 3-0 Getafe
Las Palmas 1-2 Barcelona
Espanyol 1-0 Deportivo La Coruna
Real Betis 1-1 Sporting Gijon
Celta Vigo 3-2 Eibar
Rayo Vallecano 2-2 Sevilla
Malaga 1-1 Real Madrid
Athletic Club 0-1 Real Sociedad
Granada 1-2 Valencia
Atletico Madrid 0-0 Villarreal
Opposites Attract
Speaking after the fortunate draw at Malaga, Real manager Zinedine Zidane was full of optimism, per Marca.
"I don't believe that we didn't play well. We have to keep going and stay positive because we've been outstanding in our games until now. Of course you think the league is lost, but for me and my players it isn't, in any way, shape or form.
"
Admirable sentiments, but as PR-friendly as he must be, he's unfortunately lying—to the wider world at best and to himself at worst. Real Madrid were atrocious, as bad as they have been under Zidane, with possession squandered easily, a lack of communication at the back and little created in attack.
Against that is the rather huge observation that Karim Benzema, Raphael Varane and Gareth Bale were all missing. Sure, Real still had top-class players in their stead, but Benzema makes the entire attack work well, Bale provides an outlet when the passing from midfield proves unreliable and Varane, well, aside from being better than Nacho, the Frenchman has the best partnership with Sergio Ramos at the back.
It matters. And Real couldn't cope without them all. Zidane's real problem has been the defence, and that was woefully exposed by Malaga on Sunday, who simply weren't ruthless enough to win. Real have conceded comfortably more (24) than any other top-four side this season. And that's what will cost them the league.
As for Atletico Madrid, their title hopes have been built on the complete opposite: a rock-solid defence that has the enviable record of conceding, on average, once every 205 minutes in La Liga.
Another clean sheet on Sunday continued that run, but Atleti's issues are at the other end. Antoine Griezmann has been out of form, Jackson Martinez left for China and the other forwards on the books simply aren't proving reliable enough in front of goal.
As a one-off result, the 0-0 draw with Villarreal (also formidable defensively) isn't a terrible scoreline. But when you're chasing down the league leaders and facing a weakened XI, it is a bad result because of the circumstances.
Only two teams in the top half have scored fewer than Atleti's 35 goals this season, and in the absence of another goalscorer to fall back on, they cannot hope to grind out 1-0 wins every week. And that's what will cost them the league.
Points of Authority
- Only one side has scored fewer than Malaga's 22 goals this season (Real Betis, with 19), and it's not hard to see why. It's not on account of chance-creation rates but because their offensive players simply have no composure or timing inside the box. Ricardo Horta, Duje Cop and Juanpi all missed clear goalscoring opportunities against Real Madrid on Sunday, and Malaga should have won the game with ease.
- Rayo Vallecano's new-found resilience met Sevilla's lack of confidence on the road on Sunday, and the result was a two-goal comeback for the home side. Sevilla still haven't won away from home in La Liga this season.
- Classic Getafe has occurred. After going seven unbeaten to move toward mid-table they have since lost five in a row in La Liga. At some point soon, they'll achieve peak Getafe, winning twice against relegation rivals and end up surviving by approximately four points.
- After only one win in eight in La Liga, Celta Vigo received two big boosts at the weekend: the return to the squad of Nolito and the three points against Eibar, the team they leapfrogged in the table into sixth.
Tactical Notes
- With Antoine Griezmann out of form, Atletico Madrid pushed their other sometime goalscorer further forward against Villarreal. Saul played just off Fernando Torres and attempted to burst into the box from the second line to create openings. A nice alteration from Diego Simeone, but the Yellow Submarine stood up to the task.
- Malaga's aggressive 4-4-2 swarmed Real Madrid's midfield and back line, forcing them into losing possession countless times. The gaps between Real's two lines continue to be worryingly big and static—Zidane still hasn't sorted this out.
- Valencia's second line of attack continues to be vital to the team's resurgence. It is very much the likes of Denis Cheryshev and Andre Gomes, not strikers Paco Alcacer or Alvaro Negredo, who are doing both the creating and finishing work. Santi Mina netted his third goal in three days off the bench on Sunday.
Good Week, Bad Week
The Good
Levante's third win in seven means they have finally caught the pack and moved off the foot of the table.
Charly Musonda, for the third game in succession, was a complete revelation for Real Betis. He looks completely at ease in senior football, and Premier League viewers who saw Chelsea in the first half of the season will marvel at how he wasn't given an opportunity.
Luis Suarez missed at least three clear chances for Barcelona on Saturday, but his work rate and refusal to hide thereafter was impressive. So too was the fact he essentially won his team the game, scoring one and creating the other with a fine run through the channel.
The Bad
Deportivo La Coruna without Lucas Perez this week were, simply put, abysmal. A lack of an outlet and work rate in attack meant less combination play in midfield. There was little imagination on the ball, and they deserved the defeat.
Toni Kroos was horrendous for Real Madrid.
Granada's finishing. They should have scored at least three times, from a combined total of about 10 yards out, against Valencia before the late goals at either end. This defeat could so easily have been a win, but they remain bottom.
Just the 13 cards were dished out in the Basque derby on Sunday: seven yellows for Athletic Club and six for Real Sociedad.
