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16.02.2009 13:11
Ahead by ten
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Even though Madrid have cut the gap by two points this weekend, Barcelona are still ten points ahead. Prior to that Barça’s lead hadn’t been reduced since round 12 in the League.
Pep Guardiola’s men had increased or maintained their lead for the previous 11 League matches over Real Madrid, now lying second and ten points behind the Catalans. You have to go back to the 12th round of games when Barça drew at home 1-1 with Getafe and the side then coached by Bernd Schuster beat Recreativo 1-0 for the last time Barça’s great rivals managed to cut the gap, and that was 3 months ago.
That means that Juande Ramos’s side on 50 points needs to up the tempo to catch the leader on 60. With 45 points still available, time is on Barça’s side as with every game that goes by they get closer to achieving their goal.
Decisive runs
Guardiola’s men have been on a roll since September. They’ve
only lost once and drawn three games all term, and until Saturday’s game at Betis had put
together a winning streak of 10 wins on the spin, with nine in a row away from home. Thanks to
these fine
runs
they have been at the top of the First Division since November.
Less than one slip-up per month
Now Madrid are also in form and have racked up eight wins in a row.
However, that’s only enabled them to cut Barça’s lead by two points, with the Catalans
only slipping up less than once a month; they have three draws and one defeat in five and a half
months of the season so far.
Click here to see the current First Division table.
Results the same 14 times
Even though the gap between Barça and Madrid could get bigger or smaller each weekend, that’s
only happened nine times this season. In 14 of the 23 rounds of matches so far, Barça and Madrid
have got identical results to leave the difference in points between the two the same.
Out of the nine times on which they’ve achieved different results, Barça has come out on top six times with Madrid gaining ground on three occasions. Plus those three times when Madrid managed to better Barça’s result they only cut the difference by two points as Barça drew.
Out of the nine times on which they’ve achieved different results, Barça has come out on top six times with Madrid gaining ground on three occasions. Plus those three times when Madrid managed to better Barça’s result they only cut the difference by two points as Barça drew.
