Can Barcelona win La Liga? Real Madrid’s fixture list might suggest so

Unbeaten for about two months now, Xavi has been asked about Barcelona’s chances of winning La Liga for several matches running now.

Ahead of the clash vs Real Madrid, Xavi suggested that it would be unrealistic to count Barça in the race for the title since Carlo Ancelotti’s side would have to lose three more games out of ten.

Barcelona are third in the table, three points shy of Sevilla with a game in hand. They travel to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan next week to take on the Seville outfit, and could leapfrog them into second place by the end of the game.

At that point, Barcelona could be nine points behind Madrid, with nine games on the clock. And looking at Los Blancos‘s fixtures for the next month and a half might give Xavi and co. some boost.

Madrid have to travel to Vigo to take on Celta Vigo immediately after the international break. While this has historically been an easy fixture for Madrid, Celta have been in impressive form this season, and are vying for a mid-table finish.

Moving on, they have Getafe sandwiched between their Champions League quarter-final clash vs Chelsea. A loss in the first leg could force Ancelotti to rotate vs Getafe, which could put them in a vulnerable spot.

No more than five days later, they will have to lock horns with Sevilla away from home before taking on Osasuna in another away fixture.

Before closing the season, they also have to face Atletico Madrid away from home, and Real Betis on the last day. Not to mention the Champions League semi-finals should they qualify for it.

Madrid have been riding on the coat-tails of Karim Benzema, Vinicius, and Thibaut Courtois’ individual brilliance for a while now.

Barcelona will be hoping that fatigue kicks in for the trio during the business end of the season, especially considering how little they have been rotated.

That said, Barça have quite the fixtures up for themselves as well. The difference is they have been rotating key players ahead of every game while dividing the share of responsibilities enough to not cause extra fatigue.