It's Barcelona's Title

A few weeks ago I was pondering the tight race for the Spanish La Liga title and marvelling at what was shaping up to be a really open race with no less than six credible contenders.

Well, no more. It may still be December but it’s become pretty clear that Catalan giants Barcelona will more than likely be crowned champions come season’s end. In fact, it will take a collapse of monumental proportions for Barca to lose their grip on what would be a wonderful debut season for new coach Josep Guardiola.

It’s not just that Barcelona’s 2-1 defeat of Villarreal on Sunday now puts them 10 points clear of second-placed Sevilla, even though that would be enough to stake their claim. It’s more the manner in which they have brushed aside all opposition in the last few weeks. And it’s not been your run of the mill, mid-table opposition either.

Barca’s last three fixtures have seen them play three of their title rivals and they’ve comprehensively dismissed each of them with stylish aplomb. Fourth placed Valencia were the visitors at the Nou Camp a fortnight ago when Thierry Henry’s hat-trick paved the way to a 4-0 dismissal. Then, arch-rivals Real Madrid, hardly having a vintage season and now sitting in 5th place, came calling last week and finished on the wrong end of a 2-0 score line. Villarreal are just behind Real in 6th place, and they actually took the lead on Sunday – the first goal conceded by Guardiola’s team in three matches – before Malian Seydou Keita tied the game and Henry put away the winner.

So, three games against teams in the top six have yielded maximum points, eight goals scored and just one conceded. But that still doesn’t tell the full story of Barcelona’s dominance. In particular, you may wonder how they have fared against their closest title contenders, 2nd placed Sevilla and 3rd placed Atletico Madrid, both of whom the played much earlier in the season.

Well, let’s just say it’s been more of the same. Atletico found themselves 3 goals down after 12 minutes at the Nou Camp and eventually lost 6-1; Sevilla, on the other hand played hosts at Montjuic and lost 3-0 in front of their own fans.

So, if we revise that table, in 5 games against the toughest teams in La Liga, Barcelona have won all 5, scored 17 goals and conceded 2! If that’s not championship winning form, then I sure don’t know what is.

And it’s not just the big boys that have felt the wrath of Barca’s blistering form. Since surprisingly losing their opening day match to Numancia, Barcelona have simply been in unbeatable form, winning 13 of their last 15 games, and bashing in a bucketful of goals in the process.

On this form, you might as well break out the champagne and crown Barcelona champions right now.