Barcelona Must Resist Pressure for Two Final Hurdles After Real Betis Victory

Barcelona are closer to stumbling towards the title than strolling, but the important thing is that they are closer.

One more game played, one less to go. And like last week, the pressure was on. Real Madrid and Atletico took turns at the top, but eventually Barcelona regained their place.

They burned up their advantage, which was at one stage nine points on Atletico, and now they are only leading La Liga on their head-to-head record against Diego Simeone’s team.

On paper, the results on Saturday seemed straightforward, 1-0 wins for Real Madrid and Atletico against Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano, respectively, before Barcelona beat Real Betis 2-0 in the Benito Villamarin.

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But Madrid had to wait for Gareth Bale to save them as they struggled to break down La Real, while Antoine Griezmann was Atletico’s super-sub.

Barcelona had it far from easy, too, even with Heiko Westermann’s first-half red card. They created few clear-cut chances beyond the goals, bar two for Luis Suarez that stood out.

Ivan Rakitic and Suarez eventually did the damage, but even after a relaxing week this was not a convincing performance by the reigning champions.

While Real Madrid and Atletico could point to their Champions League campaigns—both are in the semi-finals—and injuries as problems, Barcelona had no such excuses.

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Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema are missing for Madrid, and they take on Manchester City on Wednesday night, while Atletico made seven changes to their side ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Bayern Munich.

Manager Luis Enrique, on the other hand, was able to put out what has become known as his Gala XI, his very strongest side.

Barcelona enjoyed a week off before the game, with no commitments other than La Liga, bar the Copa del Rey final on May 22.

The players were given time off on Monday and Tuesday to relax and recover after what has been a gruelling season for them.

Some used it to do just that, others took advantage of the break to head on holiday, like Neymar who went to London.

Therefore some could be forgiven for expecting Barcelona to burst out of the traps against Betis and pelt in the goals, but that did not happen.

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Of course, recovering from a couple of years like these players have had will take a lot longer than a single week. If you look at Neymar, he hasn’t had a decent stretch of time off in years—playing in the Copa America, the World Cup and the Confederations Cup in his summers.

Then there’s also the pressure factor. When Barcelona were flying clear at the top of the table and on an unbeaten streak that would stretch to 39 games, they walloped teams without thinking about it. But now every kick seems to count. Few players want to take risks.

After the game Lucho blamed a “dry pitch” as one of the factors in his team’s less-than-spectacular display, per Sport, although he stated he was pleased with the defensive work.

He also pointed out that Barcelona were getting nearer to retaining the title. “All the time it’s closer, all the time there’s less to go,” said the Asturian.

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Of course, Luis Enrique is right, and the next and final two league games are both winnable fixtures. At home against rivals Espanyol and then away at relegation battling Granada.

But the former would love nothing more than destroying Barcelona’s title dream, and the latter may need to scrap in a fight for their survival in the top flight. It could be tough.

This is all in Barcelona’s own hands, and they will now have another week’s rest before the Espanyol game, which should help—although if they let the pressure get to them then all the fresh legs in the world won’t make a difference.