Xavi’s Barcelona has managed to consolidate second place in the table following a triumph with some suspense once morest Mallorca (2-1) at the Camp Nou. A victory that places the Blaugrana with 66 points, two behind Sevilla and five behind Atlético de Madrid, that delimits for now the places that give access to the Champions League. Next in contention is Betis, who have their match once morest Getafe pending today, while a little further away is Real Sociedad, ten points behind the Blaugrana.
These five teams play for three places in the Champions League. Barcelona not only leads this special League, but also has the best balance and a calendar, a priori, less complicated than its most direct rivals. To begin with, since Xavi took over the team on matchday 13, he has scored 49 points. In that same period of time, Sevilla have added 37, Atlético 38 and Real Sociedad 28. Betis remains to be computed, which right now has 36, but might reach 39, if they beat Getafe at home. That means, speaking in silver, that Xavi has been able to trace back 12 points to Sevilla, 11 to Atlético, 13 to Betis, with one game less, and 21 to Real Sociedad.
In addition, the Blaugrana calendar is much more favorable than that of their most direct rivals. While Barça has to visit the fields of Betis and Getafe, Sevilla plays at home once morest Villarreal and Atlético de Madrid, and the colchoneros will see them away from Wanda once morest Elche and Real Sociedad. As we can see, Sevilla and Atlético face each other on the penultimate day, and, to make matters worse, Simeone’s side host Real Madrid at their stadium this Sunday.
Even in the balance of the last five days Barcelona is clearly favorable, despite losing two consecutive games at home. And it is that the Blaugrana have achieved 9 of the last 15 points, 7 from Sevilla and Atlético, and 8 from Betis and Real Sociedad.
Thus, all the factors make Xavi’s Barcelona the favorite in his challenge to finally get second place in LaLiga, which would allow him not only to play in the next edition of the Champions League, but also the Spanish Super Cup. For now there are three teams already qualified to play this competition in Arabia: Real Madrid, Betis and Valencia.
And speaking of Real Madrid, Ancelotti’s men are the only ones that surpass Xavi’s Barça in the LaLiga statistics. And it is that the whites have added 54 points since Xavi landed in Barcelona, five more than the Blaugrana.
