Five matches remain in the Primera Liga, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are level om 76 points, with Real Madrid just a point behind. Who is going to win the title? Jonathan Raymond, Steve Luckings, and Jon Turner make the argument for each team.
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BARCELONA
Steve Luckings – Senior sports editor
Let’s get one thing absolutely straight right off the bat: Barcelona will win the 2015/16 Primera Liga. For all the portents of doom surrounding Barcelona’s recent slump, one that has yielded three defeats in the past four league games and seen them eliminated from the Uefa Champions League, we are still talking about the best team in Europe. This is still the same Barcelona that set a club record 39 games unbeaten six games ago. This is still the same Barcelona that on any other given Sunday would have converted the majority of the chances they fashioned against Valencia, before going down 2-1. This is still the same Barcelona that boasts the veritable troika of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. Though none are uprooting any trees at this moment, surely no one seriously doubts that one, two or all three will soon rediscover the old spark to reignite their otherworldly form. So Atletico Madrid are level with Barca at the top of La Liga on 76 points, with Real Madrid a point farther back. If Barca win their remaining five games – against Deloportivo La Coruna, Sporting Gijon, Real Betis, Espanyol and Granada, something they are infinitely capable of – the league takes care of itself. Trust me, I know these things.
ATLETICO MADRID
Jon Turner - Online sports editor
As is the norm in Spanish football, much of the spotlight this season has been focused on the traditional “Big Two” of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The early struggles of Madrid and the subsequent sacking of Rafael Benitez, or alternatively the scinitilating form of Barca, garnered far more attention than Atletico Madrid. Recently, with roles reversed as Madrid hit top gear and Barca implode, still Atletico lurk in the shadows. Except they really don’t. Joint-leaders with Barcelona, and in far better form, Atletico are in prime position for a second league title in three years. While Barca have not won in four – losing their last three – Atletico have won eight of their past 10, losing just once. Previous concerns about their lack of goals have been addressed, scoring 21 in their past seven matches, and in Diego Simeone Atletico boast the most experienced and tactically savvy of the title-chasing three managers. Their defence is by far the strongest in the division, conceding just 16 goals compared to Barca’s 29 and it is clear everything has clicked into place at just the right time. The distraction of the Uefa Champions League should not provide any concerns, given Atletico reached the final the last time they won the league, in 2014, and their run-in is very kind. A trip to Athletic Bilbao provides their only real test, but then comes Malaga (home), Rayo Vallecano (home), Levante (away), Celta Vigo (home). Four wins from five will be enough, and Atletico are perfectly poised to achieve just that and clinch the title.
REAL MADRID
Jonathan Raymond – Online sports editor
Honest question: Is there any team anywhere who can better lay claim to having been best in the world over the past two months than Real Madrid? Since they ebbed in a 1-0 loss at the Bernabeu to Atletico in the Madrid derby, Zinedine Zidane's men have rolled over a good Roma team in the Uefa Champions League last 16, overcame a first-leg hiccup in ecstatic fashion against Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals, smacked around Celta Vigo, Sevilla, Eibar and Getafe all by four-plus goals in the league and – no small deal, exactly – beat Barca at Camp Nou. They have far and away the best goal difference of the division (plus-68) and for all the deserved plaudits lavished on Messi-Neymar-Suarez, you would be forgiven for not knowing Real have actually scored 10 more goals than their once-high-flying rivals this season. Cristiano Ronaldo – who it has somehow been forgotten in the popular conscious is still Cristiano Ronaldo – has scored in eight of 10 matches since the Atletico loss, accounting for 13 goals. Just as important, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema have finally reunited with Ronaldo up front for the triumverate's first extended healthy period together in what feels like forever. That's the same trio who were the driving force behind a European Cup-winning team just two years ago. Yes, Madrid have a point to make up on Atletico and Barcelona, and relatively speaking their run-in – which features Villarreal and Valencia – is more difficult. But for a good while now, with Zidane's fire finally filling them, Real Madrid have looked like Real Madrid again. And at this moment it's better than the best Atletico or Barca have to offer.
