Talk about a hard place to play…
Real Madrid has managed to maintain their unbeaten record at home with a 3-1 win at Sporting today, but now Barca gets Zaragoza in about an hour and they need to keep pace. I’ve been VERY high on Barca all season, but with Madrid being so good at home it’s reasonable to think that Barca is a little bit concerned that Madrid can stick with them AND be undefeated at home.
If these teams get into a postseason situation and Barca is on a tear in the Champion’s League that does NOT mean that Barca is immune to Madrid’s home record. Personally, if I were Barca I wouldn’t want any part of Real Madrid at home. I can imagine that they feel about the same way, but they can’t do anything about that if they can’t keep pace. So, how does that play out for Barca?
Well, Barca takes care of its business and they control their own destiny. They can’t lose to teams they are supposed to beat because they’ve already given away enough points in those sorts of situations. Plus…
Every time that Barca plays in the Champion’s League they add to their schedule and add to their “fatigue factor”. Does Real Madrid have the same fatigue factor? Nope, they sure don’t. They only have one goal–winning Spain. It’s that simple. What makes it even worse is that Leo Messi is the golden child in Argentina AND the European title is still up for grabs. Barca has its eyes on 3 things while Madrid has its eye on one thing.
I think we can all imagine who has the easier route to success…
