Crucial weekend in La Liga

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/05/2021 (1945 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We’ve been here before.

In May of 2014, almost exactly seven years ago, Atletico Madrid visited Barcelona with La Liga on the line. Needing only a draw, Los Colchoneros got their result thanks to Diego Godin’s 49th-minute header, which cancelled out Alexis Sanchez’s opener.

They may require a victory this time around.

In a dramatic, late-season scheduling quirk, the top four sides in the Spanish top flight will face one another this weekend in a sort of mini-league that will go some distance in determining the championship.

Atletico, the current leaders with 76 points, will once again face Barcelona at Camp Nou (Saturday, 9:15 a.m.), and second-place Real Madrid — level with Barca on 74 points — will host Sevilla at Estadio Alfredo di Stefano (Sunday, 2 p.m.)

Sevilla, in fourth with 70 points, could have made things even more interesting had they not lost 1-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao on Monday, but a win in the capital, coupled with a draw in Catalonia, would still take them to within four points of the summit with three games to play.

Stranger things have happened, and no doubt the Andalusians will be desperate to bounce back from the loss and regain the form that saw them beat each of Atletico, Real Sociedad and Granada in a difficult month of April. Indeed, they were perhaps La Liga’s form team before the Bilbao shocker, but in Real Madrid they’ll be facing an opponent that recently suffered an even more embarrassing defeat.

Madrid, on Wednesday, were bounced from the Champions League by Chelsea. They were shambolic over the two legs, and, but for some poor finishing by the Blues in their 2-0 win, would surely have been handed an even more severe punishment.

Not surprisingly, the Spanish papers have already begun to dismantle Los Blancos.

Eden Hazard, who was caught glad-handing with his former teammates at Stamford Bridge, is on his way out of the club, according to Marca, and AS is reporting that Isco, Marcelo and Raphael Varane will accompany him through the exit. Madrid will also entertain offers for Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos, and while they’d prefer manager Zinedine Zidane to remain at the club, the Frenchman isn’t thought to be particularly keen on overseeing a total rebuild.

In other words, Sevilla might just fancy themselves against a Real Madrid outfit in complete disarray. Such is the impact of the Champions League on decision-making and morale at the record champions.

European football’s most prestigious club competition also has a thing or two to do with the goings-on at Barcelona.

It was only nine months ago, don’t forget, that their 8-2 dismantling by Bayern Munich at Estadio da Luz precipitated a dismantling of both the playing squad and front office.

By the end of September, each of Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, Nelson Semedo and Luiz Suarez had been offloaded, and Ronald Koeman was brought in to replace ousted manager Quique Setien. Powerful club president Josep Maria Bartomeu was forced to call early elections, and in March he was arrested for his part in covering up payments to a company tasked with smearing former and current players, including Lionel Messi.

There was even a point in the run-up to this season when it looked as though Messi had played his final match for the club. But he stayed, and 28 goals later he will almost certainly win the Pichichi as the division’s top goal-scorer.

Somehow, some way, Barcelona are in with a decent shout to regain the title as one of their more tumultuous campaigns in recent history draws to a close. In 13th place as recently as late November, they were buoyed by a Copa del Rey win last month and, crucially, Antoine Griezmann has finally come good, with six goals in his last eight outings.

On current form, Barcelona should be expected to beat Atletico Madrid, especially at home, where Atleti manager Diego Simeone has yet to win in his more than nine years in charge.

Atletico have won only seven of their 15 matches dating back to February, although four of them have come in the last three weeks. Perhaps they’ve righted a ship that was sailing well in front of its rivals for much of the season, only to be tossed and turned so much as to almost be caught.

Without a goal since March 21 against Alaves, Suarez, who joined Atletico after being jettisoned by Barcelona, will likely need to end his slump in order for his new club to grind out a win. But grinding out results is something Simeone’s sides have always done well, and their fate does remain in their hands.

The defence of Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez and Mario Hermoso is the best in La Liga, and Jan Oblak is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. They’d almost certainly accept a scoreless draw as a success.

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That would mean Real Madrid, who possess the tie-breaker against both Atleti and Barca, could go top with a win on Sunday. Barcelona, with a victory and a Madrid draw or defeat, could similarly finish the weekend in first place.

Or, it could all stay as is, status quo.

Atletico Madrid would love nothing more.

jerradpeters@gmail.com Twitter @JerradPeters