After Real Madrid’s shocking 1-0 loss at Osasuna on Sunday the question has to be asked: Is the La Liga title race over?
The tables show that Real Madrid are now seven points behind Barcelona in second place. That is effectively eight points since Barca destroyed Madrid 5-0 in November. Unless Madrid can beat Barca by more than five goals, they will lose to Barca on head-to-head record should the two teams end up level on points at the end of the season.
So where can Barca drop points this season? They do have some tough games coming up against Atletico Madrid (home), Athletic Bilbao (home), Valencia (away), Sevilla (away), Villarreal (away), Madrid (away) and Espanyol (home). It would be shocking for Barca to go through all those games without dropping points, especially with the Champions League starting in February.
But Real Madrid also have tough games coming up as they play Espanyol (away), Atletico (away), Athletic (away), Barcelona (home), Valencia (away), Sevilla (away) and Villarreal (away).
Barcelona so far have have won their last 15 league games in a row and dropped just five points in the first 21 matches. With 17 games left in the season Barcelona would need to drop 8 points, and that is if Madrid win their next 17 league games, and it includes the Clasico against Barca at the Bernabeu.
That is a big ask for Real Madrid. I don’t expect Madrid not to drop points for the rest of the season which means that Barca will have to probably lose three of their last 17 games.
The title race is not over yet, but it will take a monumental collapse by Barca to let Madrid back in which I don’t see happening.
