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Sid loweWriter from Spain
Gerard Piqué knew it, and maybe everyone did. By then, at least, at one point or another, everyone had said it, even if they didn’t believe it. That day, however, he really did and soon, the rest joined him. For once, the Barcelona defender might enjoy doing a post-match interview, he said. And so, standing there at the Sánchez Pizjuán at the end of February, after Barcelona’s 6-1 victory over Sevilla, he stood in front of the microphone and the empty stands, smiled and said: “Yes, of course, there is still a race. for the league title, worse things have been seen. “
It was an unusual way to put it, but Atlético de Madrid coach Diego Simeone knew he was right, and that’s what hurt him.
Was it happening again? Could the club that has lost three European Cups in a combined total of less than three minutes, two of them under Simeone’s leadership, be on the verge of losing a league title catastrophically as well? Worse things have been seen, but not much worse.
When Atlético beat Cádiz 4-2 on January 31, the title race seemed over. January closed with Atlético with a 10-point lead at the top and one game less. They had reached 50 points and were well on their way to 100. For context, Madrid and Barcelona were on their way to 76.
“We have to be realistic,” admitted Barça coach Ronald Koeman. “We are not in a position to win much.” For his part, Zinedine Zidane’s assistant at Real Madrid, David Bettoni, insisted: “The Madrid fans continue to believe in the team, because their DNA is to fight to the end.” But that sounded like a matter of pride, not points, and Bettoni knew the end was near.
Was over. Only it wasn’t over.
February changed everything. Atlético lost as many points in 12 days as it had in the entire season. From 50 out of 57 possible to just five in his last four games. In eight games, 11 points slipped after dropping just 17 in 19 games before. They hit the bar, the post, the goalie and missed the assistants, but they just didn’t find a way like they had before. Fear visited them again; the pressure came, the fatalism. The games in hand, the points of which were inevitably counted in advance, as if they didn’t even have to be played, were used up, those extra lives disappeared.
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In Barcelona and Madrid, meanwhile, something moved. Slowly at first, but with each passing game, they picked up speed. It wasn’t always pretty, but the points were there. At the end of a 1-0 win at Real Valladolid, Real Madrid player Lucas Vázquez walked around telling his teammates how important that result was. Madrid had endured there, they had been left out often, and now there was a possibility. Somehow.
Margins could be fine. Let’s take week 27. Two brilliant shots at the end: one from Karim Benzema, one from Luis Suárez; one hits the post and goes in, one hits the post and goes out. Benzema scores against Elche, Suárez not against Getafe, leaving Madrid just six points behind Atlético. Game in. Turn it around and Atlético would be 10 points ahead of Madrid. Game off.
It was a recurring theme, a third consecutive late rescue mission for Madrid: Real Sociedad (tie in minute 89), Atlético (tie in minute 88) and Elche (winner in minute 92). As for Barcelona, they are undefeated in their last 19 games. Unconvincing at first, now they fly and are undoubtedly the best team in Spain. The only question is whether they have left it too late, if Atlético can hold on to what they have.
The derby had caused the most damage to the league leaders, a chance for Atlético to effectively eliminate their rivals only for Benzema to achieve the late draw. But he was not the only one: Celta had drawn in the 89th minute. Looking for a last-minute draw against Levante, they left an open goal and conceded instead. It cuts both ways, of course: last weekend Alavés could have done the same, only Atlético’s Jan Oblak saved a late penalty; vulnerability revealed and nerves there for all to see, but this time, disaster was averted.
“A championship save,” a front page headline called it. It was “half the headline,” the newspaper inside said. So many moments have been “half a title” that there must be dozens of them that will be distributed when La Liga concludes at the end of May.
There is only one, which is more than many had thought. The League is there to fight. It was over, done. And then the headlines were suddenly posted: THE LEAGUE GOES ON. HOT LEAGUE. THE LEAGUE BURNS. And the favorite: There is a League! There is a league. Game going, which didn’t always seem likely. Atlético was too good. Madrid and Barcelona were a shame. No more.
And here we are.
Atlético still play Sevilla (away), Real Betis (away), Huesca (home), Athletic de Bilbao (away), Eibar (home), Elche (away), BARCELONA (away), Real Sociedad (home) ), Osasuna at home. ) and Real Valladolid (out).
Meanwhile, Barcelona has games against: Real Valladolid (at home), REAL MADRID (away), Getafe (at home), Villarreal (away), Granada (at home), Valencia (away), ATLÉTICO MADRID (at home) , Levante (away), Celta Vigo (home) and Eibar (away).
Finally, Madrid face: Eibar (at home), Barcelona (at home), Cádiz (away), Real Betis (at home), Getafe (away), Osasuna (at home), Sevilla (at home), Granada (out), Athletic de Bilbao (out)) and Villarreal (home).
However, they do not start on the same lines. Atlético is the leader, where they have been for 15 weeks, with 66 points. Barcelona is second, four points behind with 62, while Madrid is third, six points behind with 60. (But with a better, and now unassailable, head-to-head record).
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Julien Laurens, from ESPN FC, limits Barcelona’s chances of winning La Liga.
“We have two great teams behind us that will not lose any games,” says Simeone. Which cannot be entirely correct, unless you are sure that your team will not beat Barcelona and that the Classic It will be a draw, but it tells you something about the pressure they are under, the mentality they must adopt. There is no room for half measures, there is no room for mistakes or relaxation. Atlético has not had an easy game since Cádiz, each exhausting and tense week gives a heart attack; now they have to overcome them no matter what happens. No excuses, no way out, no easy path.
Atlético’s position is the best, but by no means certain. They would have signed up for this at the beginning of the season, if not in the middle, and may still lose; the other team can’t. Koeman has clearly urged caution by saying, “the sun is shining today, but it could rain tomorrow.” And yet it’s hard to avoid the feeling that Simeone’s team will have to win at least seven of their 10 remaining matches. and Don’t lose to Barcelona.
It’s hard to judge who has the toughest accessories, at first glance. Sevilla, Betis and Barcelona absent, suggest perhaps Atlético. Although the streak of Barcelona in Madrid, Villarreal and Valencia out, and Atlético at home is not easy either. Neither the one in Madrid, with The whites He still has to navigate the home games against Barcelona, Sevilla and Villarreal. If all three candidates get the same results against these teams as the last time they played against them, Atlético would finish with 94, Barcelona with 79 and Madrid with 83.
But those teams are not the same now, the games are reversed, at home where they were away, and vice versa, and these teams are certainly not in the way they were then. If in the next 10 games the three teams added points to the rhythm of their last 10 games, with the exit speed prevailing, Barcelona would finish with 90, Atlético with 85 and Madrid with 83.
“I’ve been telling the players that the goal is important and it’s wonderful if you can get there but the road is more important, what matters most, what you enjoy the most is walking the road,” said Simeone, although he probably didn’t. . do not believe it. Instead, his other mantra remains: game by game.
There are ten of them left, entering the season in a few weeks in which Zidane can even be forgiven for his habit of calling each game final. That’s not that far now, lose and gone. Nor is the line: “People seem to think we would win the league by 15 or 20 points,” Simeone said. “I don’t know what they expected.”
Not this, not then. But that’s what they have. A league where there was none.
