When can Barcelona win La Liga title? How Barca can inflict Clasico embarrassment on Real Madrid originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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It’s the most decorated, tempestuous and bitter historical rivalry in European football.
This weekend, Barcelona and Real Madrid reconvene for the latest instalment of El Clasico.
The two La Liga giants bowed out of the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage this season and the battle for supremacy in Spain is more or less wrapped up, too.
So, why could this weekend’s match at Camp Nou — the first at Barcelona’s renovated home for more than 1,000 days — occupy a special place in the unparalleled lore of this fixture?
MORE:Which club has won most La Liga titles?
When can Barcelona win La Liga title?
Barcelona are eight 11 points clear of Real Madrid in La Liga with four matches remaining.
This means they only need another point from their remaining four games, unless the title goes down to the head-to-head record against Real Madrid.
How Barcelona could win La Liga title in El Clasico
If Barcelona avoid defeat in El Clasico on Sunday, May 10, they will be confirmed as champions of Spain. Although several Clasico showdowns have proved critical to the eventual destination of the title, this will be the first time La Liga has been settled in a direct matchup between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Madrid can only keep the race mathematically alive with a victory over their old enemies. That would cut the gap to eight points, with nine left to play for. It would still be implausible for Barcelona to blow it from there, but they would then need two points from their remaining matches against Alaves, Real Betis and Valencia.
This is because Madrid won the season’s first La Liga Clasico 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Therefore, if Madrid won this weekend and ended the season level on points with Barca, they would be champions by virtue of having a superior head-to-head record, which trumps goal difference in La Liga when teams finish level on points.
Regardless, Madrid need to beat Barcelona this weekend and then win out through their final three fixtures against Real Oviedo, Sevilla and Athletic Club to have any shot, while hoping a Barca team that has won 29 of their 34 La Liga matches so far this season fail to win another one. It’s beyond a long shot.
Have Barcelona or Real Madrid won more La Liga titles?
Barcelona have won La Liga 28 times. Even with title No. 29 essentially a formality at this point — it would also be their third in the past four seasons — they are still playing catch-up to Madrid historically.
Madrid’s Jude Bellingham-inspired title triumph of 2023/24 was their 36th La Liga success.
MORE:Breaking down the all-time trophy head-to-head between Barca and Real Madrid