With Atletico Madrid looking to initiate a title race in La Liga with their weekend trip to Camp Nou, the FC crew discuss what Barcelona need to do to fend off the challengers.
In Spanish media there is a recurring phrase: "Hay Liga." It literally translates as "there is league," or to give it its English equivalent: The title race is on.
This season, there has been a distinct lack of "Liga" due to Barcelona's stranglehold on the top spot. They reached first after the third game of the season and have not budged since.
Undefeated and seemingly unstoppable going into February, Barca held an 11-point advantage over nearest rivals Atletico Madrid, who truth be told were more focused on keeping neighbours Real Madrid at arm's length to finish best of the rest. Now, somewhat improbably, just a month later Los Rojiblancos have cut that gap down to five measly points. Granted, it has relied on the Catalan side slipping up, but Atletico nevertheless had to take advantage.
They have done so with aplomb. Unrelenting and in banging form, Diego Simeone's men have swept aside all in front of them, winning eight on the spin in all competitions, scoring 21 and conceding just three times.
As they travel to the Nou Camp on Sunday in what is the biggest La Liga fixture between the two sides since Atleti secured a 1-1 draw on the final day of 2013-14 that saw them crowned champions, it is feasible that they could end the weekend just two points off Ernesto Valverde's side. You would not bet against them doing it, either.
All things considered, to even go into this meeting still in with a shot at the title is quite the achievement.
In the middle of a transfer ban, the club could not strengthen -- or sell -- last summer. Nicolas Gaitan and Luciano Vietto got to fight another day, much to the exasperation of the Atleti faithful and -- you suspect -- Simeone himself.
Then there was the Antoine Griezmann saga. The Frenchman had his head turned and only a last-minute change of heart saw him remain at the club -- essentially because he knew they would be up a creek without a paddle, unable to replace him given the ban.
Diego Simeone has a chance to cut Barca's once seemingly unsurmountable lead to two points on the weekend.
Griezmann was given a bumper wage hike. However, even his biggest defenders must admit he played through the first few months of the season like a man who had massive regret hanging over him. Netting just five league goals before the turn of the year, he looked like a little boy lost. Granted, injury to Kevin Gameiro and the ineptitude of Vietto and Fernando Torres labouring around him did not help.
So, a transfer ban and a star player looking like he would rather be anywhere else but the Wanda Metropolitano were not ideal circumstances for a manager. Initially, it told, with Atleti enduring a miserable European campaign that saw them dumped into the Europa League after two embarrassing draws with Qarabag.
Yet somehow, in La Liga, they kept churning out results. Initially there were a couple of draws that saw them drop to fourth. However, their first loss did not come until the 17th game of the season away to Espanyol.
All this without any help from the referees. Before jumping to conclusions, bare the following in mind: Until last weekend, Atletico had not been awarded a penalty this campaign. While some might argue it is just bad luck, remember the gruesome image of Diego Godin's teeth flying through the air as he was clattered by the Valencia goalkeeper? They have still had more players sent off (two) than penalties awarded. However, it is a start.
This is before getting into the nuances surrounding club finances or the change of stadium, too.
Despite all that,
Source: espn.co.uk