Real Madrid control their own destiny, Bayern Munich shore up fifth straight title and Juventus are on the doorstep.
La Liga
Barcelona have ripped off four league wins in a row. Luis Suarez is scoring goals again. They have scored 104 La Liga goals and have a goal difference that is nearly 20 goals better than that of Real Madrid. Should they beat an in-form Villarreal at Camp Nou on Saturday they will probably win out.
And it still may not be enough to win the La Liga title.
Barcelona have three league games left. Real Madrid have four. The two teams are tied on points. If Real win out they will be La Liga champions. And the only real challenge facing Cristiano Ronaldo and company are Sevilla, who they host on the penultimate matchday of season.
(Ronaldo is in blistering form, per usual, as he punished Atletico Madrid with a hat-trick in the Champions League semifinals Tuesday.)
The match against Sevilla may not actually be Real’s second-to-last match of the season because they still need to make up their away match with Celta Vigo after the game was postponed back in early February due to a storm that damaged Vigo’s stadium. Real Madrid travel to 19th-place Granada, who are still somehow ahead of last-place Osasuna despite losing their last five league matches, on Saturday.
In a related note, if anyone knows when they are going to make up the damn match please give me a holler.
Considering the above, any points dropped by either side over the remaining weeks will probably decide who lifts the trophy. We should be in for a very tense and exciting end to the La Liga season.
Bundesliga
There will not be a dramatic race for the Bundesliga title as Bayern Munich secured their fifth straight league championship after crushing Wolfsburg to the tune of 6-0 Â last weekend. They will host Darmstadt on Saturday.
Second-place RB Leipzig still had a very slim chance of catching the leaders in the previous weeks as Bayern drew in back-to-back matches. Unfortunately for Leipzig, they squandered this chance with two draws of their own. Still, it has been a remarkable Bundesliga season for the upstart club.
They came out of nowhere to challenge for the title. With three league games remaining, however, they still need to hold off Hoffenheim and Borussia Dortmund, who they lead by five and six points, respectively, to claim second place. Leipzig travel to fifth-place Hertha Berlin, who are all but out of a Champions League spot, on Saturday.
The race for third is where some excitement still remains in the Bundesliga. Hoffenheim lead Dortmund by one point as the two head into their Saturday clash at Signal Iduna Park. It’s a giant opportunity for Christian Pulisic and BVB to take control of third. Should the clubs draw, it appears as though hard-charging Werder Bremen, who have won five of their last six, will have a lot to say about who takes third place: they face Hoffenheim and Dortmund to finish up the season.
Serie A
Leaders Juventus had an opportunity to pretty much wrap up the league title this past weekend as second-place Roma lost the Rome derby to Lazio. But Juve could only muster a draw against Atalanta, who are unbeaten in their last six, last Friday. This only delayed the near-inevitable as the Old Lady posses a nine-point lead with only four Serie A matches left. Juve host ninth-place Torino on Saturday.
Napoli capitalized on Roma’s loss, drawing within a point by winning on the road against Inter Milan. This leaves second place completely up for grabs as we enter the homestretch. Napoli appear to have the easier matchup this weekend as they host 12th-place Cagliari while Roma have to visit sixth-place AC Milan.
Missed domestic chances aside, Juventus took a commanding 2-0 lead on the road against Monaco in their Champions League semifinal tie thanks to a Gonzalo Higuain brace. Barring an unlikely collapse at home in the second leg next Tuesday, Juve should be competing for the Champions League trophy on June 3 in Cardiff.
Extras
With only two matches to go in the Eredivisie, Feyenoord have a four-point lead on second-place Ajax. The latter lost their big matchup with third-place PSV Eindhoven last Sunday, closing the gap to three points between the two clubs. This result was all the more important as only the top two teams in the Dutch top flight qualify for the Champions League.
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The top three spots in Ligue 1 have been decided for some time, but the order in which Monaco, PSG and Nice finish is yet to be determined. That being said, leaders Monaco are firmly in the drivers seat, not so much because of their three-point lead atop the table as because of the blistering form they’re in. They’ve won their last six league matches.
PSG hurt their title chances by losing to third-place Nice 3-1 last Saturday. The Parisian club added insult to injury by racking up two red cards at the end of the match. Mario Balotelli continued his resurgence with Nice by scoring his 14th league goal of the season.
Bonus Goal
This Juventus team goal to open the scoring against Monaco on Wednesday was breathtaking. The passes from Paulo Dybala and Dani Alves were better than Higuain’s goal in my humble opinion.
Until next week.
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