FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.05.2007 10:09

The closest title race in years

Berta Brau

There hasn’t been a tie at the top of the league table with just four match days to go since the 1992-93 season. The title race is neck and neck with four teams all in with a realistic chance of finishing top.

It would be a brave person who would predict the winner of this year’s La Liga with any degree of certainty. No fewer than four teams are still in with a real chance of taking the title and there’s a tie on points between first and second. That hasn’t happened since Real Madrid and Barça were tied on 52 points at this exact stage of the season in 1993. Oh, and by the way, FC Barcelona went on to win the league!

At the moment, both Barça and Real Madrid have 66 points while Sevilla and Valencia have 64 and 62 respectively. The situation is a far cry from that of recent seasons, when the title has been practically decided by this stage. Last year, Barça had an eight-point lead after 34 games, while the season before they led by six points.

Closer than ever

Except for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, when three teams (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Deportivo) were all in with a fighting chance with four matches to go, this is the closest title race of the last ten years.

And while it was a three-horse race in those two seasons, this year there are four teams involved in the scrap. With just four points separating those four sides, it’s clear that this season is the most hotly contested for a long time.

Now what?

The situation could get even tenser if Barça and Real Madrid both draw at the weekend (against Atlético Madrid and Recreativo respectively) and Sevilla beat Deportivo. This would produce a three-way tie on points at the top of the table, with the teams only separated by the head-to-head goal difference – which, by the way, is favourable to Real Madrid in both cases.