With strike looming, Real Madrid are falling behind Barcelona in La Liga title quest
It is almost a perfect symmetry. Barcelona are scheduled to go to Atletico Madrid on the penultimate day of the Liga season, and the right result for the visitors at the home of the defending champions would give them the title. Déjà vu. Last season, Atletico went to Barcelona, then the holders, needing a result to take the Liga from them. They achieved it.
A Barcelona win at Atletico would confirm Barca's regaining the title, now that their lead over Real Madrid at the top of the table has stretched to four points, thanks to Barca's 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad and Madrid's 2-2 draw win on a dramatic Saturday night at the Bernabeu. One intriguing question is whether Atletico supporters will applaud Barca, should they secure what they need against the deposed champions. Another is: will the fixture, or any games, on matchday 37, actually take place next weekend as timetabled?
Amid a riveting race for prizes, with Barcelona and Madrid also pursuing places in the Champions League final this Tuesday and Wednesday, Spain's elite soccer players are preparing to go in strike in domestic competitions. They have unlikely allies in this action in the Spanish Football Federation, both parties lining up against the league, organisers of the domestic competition and signatories to a new system governing the distribution of income from broadcast and betting rights.
At issue for the players, and the Federation, is not so much the new principles of distributing earnings between clubs - which are designed to address some of the past imbalances, the heavyweights who draw such a high proportion of the media interest in La Liga - but the percentages of revenue reserved for the Players' Union, and for the Federation, who are responsible for organizing all levels of the sport, amateur and professional. Those bodies have also argued they were left out of significant phases of negotiations between league and government over the new deal.
Hence the bizarre spectacle last week of senior players from Barcelona and Madrid lining up with lesser known soccer professionals all endorsing the idea of a strike that would potentially interrupt indefinitely the conclusion of the league, and a close title race. Privately, most parties believe a solution can and will be found, perhaps on Tuesday, when a coming-together of the antagonists in the dispute is planned.
If so, the joust for the summit of La Liga will go ahead with its crucial, penultimate 90 minutes Sunday, when Real Madrid travel to Barcelona, to play Espanyol, and Barcelona go to the capital, and an Atletico who drew 2-2 at Levante on Sunday.
There is, among the Real players, a recognition that their 2-2 draw with Valencia has put them too far back - four points shy of Barcelona - and that while they relied on one Barca slip-up kept hopes alive, imagining a Barca who have now not conceded a goal in seven matches dropping points in both their remaining games is fanciful.
On Saturday, Real lost their way in the race while reminding neutrals why the value of Spanish football's broadcast rights is so high it is worth quarrelling over. Against Valencia, Madrid lived lows and highs almost every minute. They recovered from two goals down to take their point, struck the frame of Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves' goal no fewer than three times: A Gareth Bale free-kick; a Cristiano Ronaldo header, a Chicharito Hernandez shot.
"If we play like that against Juventus, I see us in the final of the Champions League," said Carlo Ancelotti, the Madrid head coach, after a sapping night in which Ronaldo had seen a penalty saved by the outstanding Alves. Anticipating a fired-up, attacking Madrid taking on their 2-1 first-leg deficit against Juventus with the same drive they showed against Valencia was Ancelotti's form of compensation for the dwindling of his domestic possibilities. He is facing a second successive season in which a fierce rival -- Atletico in 2014, Barcelona in 2015 -- seize La Liga, having been genuinely chased by Real until two matches from the end.
As for Barca, they are finishing the campaign much as they begun it, impermeable in defence, full of promise in attack. Pedro, the forgotten weapon of their forward line, somewhat marginalised by Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez in recent months, executed a superb overhead kick to make the victory against Real Sociedad safe.
"I can only say good things about Pedro," said Luis Enrique, the Barca coach, "he is a top class player, who always gives his best and he has had as many opportunities this season. He practices those overhead kicks in training, and that one was spectacular. We are making and taking goalscoring chances and we are not letting goals. That's healthy."
The only awkward news of the weekend for Barcelona? Atletico's failure to take all three points against Levante. It means Atletico's grip on third place, which guarantees them a place in next season's Champions League group phase, is not yet certain, their lead over fourth-placed Valencia standing at four points with two to play. Atletico now have a motivation to strive against Barcelona next weekend ... or whenever the proposed strike permits the fixture to take place.
