Momentum back with Madrid in La Liga title race as Barcelona become chasers

Madrid (AFP) – Real Madrid and Barcelona may be neck-and-neck on points at the top of La Liga but the pendulum has swung back in Madrid’s favour.

Kind fixtures allowed Spain’s top two to ease into the resumption of Europe’s closest title race but a testing few days has delivered a more accurate gauge of form and fitness.

Barca stumbled at Sevilla on Friday night, a goalless draw at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan coming between impressive Madrid victories, 3-0 at home to Valencia and then 2-1 away at Real Sociedad on Sunday.

A despondent Gerard Pique said Madrid might even prove uncatchable, an assessment many believed to have been more of a jibe at referees than a compliment to his rivals.

“It’s just frustration,” said Barcelona coach Quique Setien. “I am still optimistic.”

Madrid had certainly benefited from Rodrigo Moreno’s goal for Valencia being ruled out the night before and would see three tight decisions go their way against Real Sociedad too.

But they were able to use a superior head-to-head record to return to the top of La Liga because Barcelona handed them an opportunity, which they took.

Setien’s side became laboured against Sevilla and, in truth, never really made them feel uncomfortable. Neither team created enough to deserve to win the game and with Lionel Messi quiet in his third 90 minutes in nine days, Barca lacked ideas and inspiration.

“We will keep going and will try to maintain that hope because we are convinced we can still win the league,” said Setien on Monday. 

Of the tight battle with Madrid, he added: “Everything that can be said about us applies to them too. They can’t make any mistakes either. We have seen many leagues decided on the last day before.”

On Tuesday, Barcelona host Athletic Bilbao, who are undefeated since the restart, before travelling to Celta Vigo next weekend for a match that looked simpler before Celta trounced Alaves 6-0 on Sunday.

Then Barca have Atletico Madrid at home and Villarreal away, two resurgent teams, both in the hunt for the top four, before a kinder finish kicks in.

Yet they cannot afford to give Real Madrid a lead to cling onto, meaning Setien needs to find solutions despite the lack of time for training.

Antoine Griezmann has looked lost, the Frenchman giving way to Martin Braithwaite against Sevilla, in what appeared to be Setien’s favoured line-up.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2YnBPRy