With a bit of assist from their hated native rivals, Atlético Madrid can clinch its first La Liga title in seven years on Sunday.
Atlético leads defending champion Real Madrid by two factors with two matches remaining and can win the title if it beats Osasuna at residence and Madrid fails to win at Athletic Bilbao.
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Any different mixture of outcomes will ship it to the ultimate spherical, and presumably deliver Barcelona again into the combination. Atletico visits Valladolid and Madrid hosts Villarreal on the ultimate weekend. Madrid holds the head-to-head tiebreaker in the event that they end even on factors.
Atlético protected its lead on Wednesday by beating Real Sociedad 2-1 with objectives from forwards Yannick Carrasco and Ángel Correa. Madrid stored tempo on Thursday with a 4-1 victory at Granada.
“I didn’t watch Atlético’s game yesterday. Everyone is focused on their own thing,” Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois mentioned after beating Granada.
“Atletico feel confident because they’ve won. We have to focus on what we do ourselves and win our games,” Courtois mentioned.
“There’s another final coming up against Athletic this Sunday and after the game we’ll look at the Atlético result.”
Before becoming a member of Madrid by way of a stint at Chelsea, Courtois helped Atlético win its final league title in 2014. Since then, Barcelona and Madrid have returned to divvying up the titles between them.
Midfielder Koke Resurrección and defender José Giménez are the one holdouts from that championship staff seven years in the past. Koke made his five hundredth look for Atlético in opposition to Sociedad.
“The only thing that matters is the work I have put in all these years and have to keep going,” Koke mentioned about his milestone.
“(But) I care about the team, not what I achieve individually, and I hope that we can have the perfect finish to the season by winning the league title.”
The area to win probably the most tightly contested league in years was primarily lowered to 2 after each Barcelona and Sevilla didn’t hold tempo.
Sevilla was at all times an extended shot, however the staff actually fell out of contact after just one win in its final three video games. It is six factors again, and Atlético holds the tiebreaker over Sevilla.
But Barcelona had put itself proper within the thick of issues after going 19 matches with out a loss, just for its protection to let it down over the previous month. The staff has conceded seven objectives in its final 4 video games, together with a loss and back-to-back attracts.
Barcelona’s massively disappointing 3-3 draw in opposition to Levante in a match it led each 2-0 and 3-2 on Tuesday left it 4 factors behind Atlético. The staff, which hosts Celta Vigo on Sunday, would wish each Atlético and Madrid to disintegrate to tug off a exceptional comeback.
Ronald Koeman’s future as Barcelona may depend upon the result.
“Coaches are always under scrutiny, but I understand that there are questions (about me) after our second half (against Levante),” Koeman mentioned after the draw.
“We must keep going. We have to prepare for next season.”
The large query for Barcelona is that if the Copa del Rey title it received final month might be sufficient to persuade Lionel Messi to remain when his contract expires in a number of weeks.