This weekend, Barça has the opportunity to escape the standings and inflict a big blow on Real Madrid's morale.
Last August, no one would have imagined that Barça would approach the month of November with such sparkling results and dynamics. Hansi Flick has consolidated the squad, focused on youth, and is starting to recover his strength. A victory against Espanyol in La Liga this weekend would allow them to widen a temporary gap of nine points on Real, and deal a big blow to the morale of the Madrilenians.
This Sunday, Barça will host Espanyol at Montjuic. This will be the first clash between the two teams since the Pericos' return to La Liga, after Barca, in their last title two years ago, relegated them to the second division. Real Madrid, for their part, will not play this weekend due to flooding caused by DANA leading to the cancellation of their match at Mestalla.
In the event of victory in the derby against Espanyol, the Blaugrana would provisionally be 9 points ahead of Real Madrid… Over the last few weeks, all the lights have been green on Barça's side. The Catalans started with a big victory against Sevilla, giving the team a boost. Then, they outclassed Bayern (4-1), before closing the week by scoring 4 additional goals on Real's field (0-4).
Meanwhile in Madrid, tension spread to the offices, notably at Florentino Pérez. The president witnessed his team's rout during the Clasico before learning that Vinicius would not be Ballon d'Or, deciding to boycott the France Football gala. Blessed bread for FC Barcelona, who knows that they can drive the point home in two days, a victory on their part this weekend could create a temporary gap of 9 points in the Spanish championship standings…
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The last time Barcelona were crowned LaLiga champions, the team took the lead on matchday 13 and held it until the end. By Matchday 24, they were already nine points ahead of Madrid, and after a 2-1 victory at the Camp Nou on Matchday 26, that gap had increased to 12 points. The final gap ended at +10. If Barça manages to take a 9-point lead, and although it is with one more match compared to the Merengues, the latter will have to deal with this psychological gap until their match against Valencia is played.
A match which does not yet have a date, as the calendar is overloaded between all the competitions in which Ancelotti's men are engaged. According to the Spanish media Relevo, a combination of circumstances could even cause the meeting at Mestalla to be postponed to the end of May 2025, between the 37th and 38th days…
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