Spectacular turnaround to the season
There are just six games to go in La Liga 2020/21. For FC Barcelona, there are seven, because on Thursday they face Granada in a game they have in hand. Win that and they’ll go one point clear at the top of the table.
Sunday’s 2-1 victory in Villarreal, coupled with Real Madrid being held at home to Betis and Atlético Madrid going down 2-1 in Bilbao means Barça are now in a better position than ever.
Spectacular comeback
It’s a quite incredible turnaround when we consider what the league table looked like in December. Despite a strong start to the season, Barça then went on a run of just two wins in eight games, including losses to Getafe, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and then Cádiz.
It looked like curtains. After the last of those defeats, 12 points separated the Catalans from leaders Atlético, and not only was the team outside of the Champions League places, but was outside of the Europa League too... Even Ronald Koeman was forced to admit that the team had lost almost all hope of winning the title.
The turnaround since then has been spectacular. Barça have won 20 out of 21 games since, and only lost one, the Clásico against Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, both the Madrid clubs have been dropping points. Atlético have led since Week 9, but although they were once runaway leaders, their incredible run of 15 wins in 16 games came to an abrupt end in February. Just six win in 14 games means that their huge lead has been cut to nothing.
It’s thrown Barça and Real Madrid back into contention, with Sevilla also joining the mix on the back of a spectacular late charge.
Massive date with Atlético
Real Madrid and Sevilla can only win and hope their rivals falter. Not so the other two clubs.
Win their six remaining games, and Atlético will still be champions. But Barça are now in the same position and will have home advantage when the two sides meet in less than a fortnight’s time – a game that won’t decide the league title, but that will clearly have a huge bearing on the eventual outcome.
Barça are now better poised than ever to take what would not just be the championship, but a league and cup double. Something that was no more than a fading dream just four months ago!