BARCELONA – The League that was drawn on a mattress in December arrives in mid-March more diffuse than ever. The climb of Barcelona, the irregularity of Real Madrid and, above all, the fall of Atlético de Madrid has turned the final straight of the championship into a puzzle of uncertain solution. The mattress advantage has been diminishing in such a way that, at the gates of the last stop for selections, Simeone’s team has run out of mattress.
In the last ten games, Atlético have scored 19 points, 21 for Real and 28 for Barça, catapulted as they could not have imagined when they lost in Cadiz (2-1) at the beginning of December and, fifth in the standings, suffered a real fire around his locker room. From here 17 days without defeat, 45 points added of 51 disputed (fourteen victories and three ties), and an absolute change in the predictions. If there was a moment, in January, that in the classification, with two games pending Atlético, the option was contemplated that those of Simeone escaped up to 13 points above the azulgrana equipment, the scene to this day it has changed absolutely.
By the end of the championship there are eleven days left, 33 points, with matches of all kinds for the three candidates. Only the Madrid derby is closed in favor of Real (a victory and a draw) but while it remains to play a Classic at the Bernabeu (day 30), Atlético will have to visit the Camp Nou on the 35th, in a duel that eight matches is suspected to be final.
Atlético and Barça have six outings and Real have five. Those of Simeone, who have only won three of their last eight league games, adding 13 of 24 points, will receive this next day in Alava and from now on enjoy a calendar as theoretically friendly locals. Huesca, Eibar, Real Sociedad and Osasuna will visit Wanda, suspecting Real as the most difficult opponent. Outside, however, the mattress team has a real tour de force: Sevilla FC, Real Betis, Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, as well as Elche and Valladolid will receive it.
Barça, who visit Real Sociedad this weekend, will then have to do the same with Real Madrid, Villarreal, Valencia, Levante and Eibar, receiving at the Camp Nou in Valladolid, Getafe, Granada, Atlético and Celta Vigo. Real, meanwhile, will play the weekend in Vigo against Celta and will later have to visit Cadiz, Getafe, Granada and Athletic, receiving in Valdevebas in Eibar, Barça, Betis, Osasuna, Sevilla and Villarreal.
The situation is still favorable for Atlético, but history, not just the current sensations, give Barcelona a nod. In the seasons 1991-1992 and 1993-1994 the azulgrana equipment went back to him in the last days advantages that were guessed impossible to Real Madrid and Sport to conquer the title against all prognosis in the last date.
And he also deserves a mention in the 1995-96 season, the one known as the play-off, and which he had on the same day 27 at Atlético as the leader with an eight-point advantage over Barça (61-53 ) and who went to Camp Nou 09:00 later, at 36, with only three points of income. That night of April 20, 1996, Cruyff’s Barça had the option of assaulting a lead that two months earlier was considered impossible … But the mattress assault (1-3) ruled the competition. A scenario that could be repeated this year when those of Simeone (mattress player 25 years ago) visit those of Koeman.
Barça have, at the moment, taken cruising speed at their best moment of the season. Resembling the bestial recovery that starred in the second half of the 2003-04 season but in a better qualifying situation than then, the Barça team sighs for a title that in December had practically been dismissed. Although Real Madrid, displaced in third place, irregular and discreet in equal parts, has not said its last word.
The dispute of the Classic, on April 11, can open a new stage … But now, for now, the League is more open than ever.