Just the day that Madrid could leave the League sentenced, Gerard Piqué was surfing in the Sau reservoir. After winning in the Valladolid field, the Barça players watched the Granada match on television while enjoying the two days off that Quique Setión gave to a squad without a closet. Tired, the Barça players thought that the Andalusian team, which was able to beat them at the beginning of the season at Nuevo Los Cármenes (2-0), might repeat the feat against those of Zinedine Zidane. But hopes quickly faded. In just 16 minutes, Rui Silva had to pick up the ball twice from the net. Mendy opened the scoring with a goal from a great individual play and Benzema extended it after getting rid of Victor Diaz in a handful of ground. In the second half, Machís shortened the gap and Granada pressed for a draw, but Madrid managed to suffer until they added a victory that brings them a little closer to the title. He has four points ahead of Barça with only six left.
With 180 minutes to go, two games, the chance to see Barça’s third league in a row seems farther than ever. On Thursday, already in unified schedule, Madrid will host Villarreal in Valdebebas, while an Osasuna that does not play anything will visit the Camp Nou. The schedule seems a bit more complicated for the people of Madrid, but with the goal average won they have it all in their favor to change recent history. On the last day, Sunday, Barça and Madrid visit Alabès and Leganés respectively, two teams that are still struggling not to go down to Segona.
The ghost of a blank year
In the dressing room, the atmosphere is tense. In recent weeks the coaching staff has seen players question some decisions, both work schedule and tactics, although after Vigo the two sides agreed to a truce and prioritized winning as a title that has been escaped little by little. If last January the managers decided to expel Ernesto Valverde because they believed that with him you could not win the Champions League, half a year later the scenario is worse, because with Quique Setión maybe not even win the League. With a complicated schedule in the Champions League – in case of beating Napoli, it would be up to Bayern – the ghost of the first year blank since the 2007/08 season, the last with Frank Rijkaard, walks through Aristides Maillol to a natural course of elections. The 2013-14 campaign, with Gerardo Martino, the team won a Super Cup that this year, in fact, was the beginning of the final, as, after losing the semifinals to Atletico Madrid, Bartomeu fired Valverde.
Although the official speech of the Barça president is that Quique Setién should end a contract that ends in 2021, the Cantabrian coach knows that he will have to pack his bags if he does not lift a title in the coming weeks. He has not been able to impose his ideas on a team that at times has chosen to self-manage, to the point that the coach himself has admitted that “some players know how to bring fatigue better than me.” That is, before making changes that could create problems, Setión has decided to keep tired players, such as Messi, on the pitch, as they are also the ones who can decide a match. “It’s not easy to send the best player in the world to the bench,” the former Betis player told ARA, who is facing a week in which part of his destiny could be written. If Barça fail and provide the white title, he could be dismissed. If Barça win their matches, even if they lose the League, the Cantabrian could go on to lead his second match in the Champions League. The 1-1 first leg of the round of 16 of the top competition against Napoli in San Paolo, before the pandemic, leaves everything open for the return leg.
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