1. Barça is one night away from the Copa del Rey final, two knockout rounds away from the Champions League final, and nine games away from winning La Liga. Hansi Flick, in fact, said, both in the locker room and in the press, that the most important title is La Liga. And he's well on his way to winning it in his first year in charge. Barça, after thrashing Girona, are top of the table, three points ahead of Real Madrid, and have the advantage. goal average in favor of the Whites, and Ancelotti's men must come to Lluís Companys. Football-wise, nothing should cause them to suffer. The team is well-oiled and, in 2025, has become addicted to winning. All the players have a plan in mind, combining speed and efficiency with the ball at their feet, and when they don't have it, they bite like wolves to get it back as quickly as possible. The enthusiasm of the handful of youngsters at La Masia, the maturity of two Poles on form, and the form of some stars who would be wanted in any team—Pedri, De Jong, Kounde, Raphinha, Ferran—mean that, for now, no team plays more fun than Barça in Europe. The number of goals this season (139 in 45 games), on the way to a record, is evidence of this. The fact that the last defeat came in 2024 is another example of the competitiveness of this team that has brought laughter back to Barcelona fans. Even when a player is injured, his replacement makes his absence almost unnoticeable. It happened with Casadó in place of Bernal. Or with Szczesny in place of Ter Stegen. And when Fermín comes in for Olmo, he turns games around.
2But this La Liga will be hard to win. Real Madrid is too close to qualification, and too much has happened this year to believe that footballing merits alone will be enough to win it. Florentino Pérez knows that his players, after winning a La Liga title, tend to fall asleep in the sack. Since 2007, they haven't managed to win two consecutive titles, and despite the number of Champions League titles they collect, they've never won a treble. This summer, they signed Mbappé precisely to remedy that, so that, along with Bellingham, Vinícius, and Rodrygo, they would have an unbeatable team. But, at this point, Madrid has failed in 10 matches, Barça crushed them at the Bernabéu (0-4), and they don't depend on them to win La Liga. That's why, in the final stretch, they hope to capitalize on all the campaigns they've shamelessly exploited. On the club's official television channel, the criticism of the referees in each match, whether preemptive or just plain, exerts pressure that is as intolerable as it is unsportsmanlike. The eight-page letter they made public against the Technical Committee of Referees after losing to Espanyol denotes this "anything goes" approach to winning La Liga. The way media outlets aligned with Florentino Perez are conveniently covering the Negreira case is also not coincidental. Pressure, pressure, and more pressure, to have traditional refereeing. Like the ones before VAR.
3. And yes, in the land of "sociological Madridismo"—Laporta's most brilliant phrase of recent times—González Fuertes' refereeing already allowed Ancelotti's team to win (3-2) this matchday against Leganés, a team in the relegation zone that had made life and La Liga difficult for them. Neither the penalty awarded to Madrid was a penalty, nor was the final foul that sparked the comeback. Two glaring errors that are a warning to Barça of what awaits them in this close encounter until the end of the season. As Lunin, Madrid's Ukrainian goalkeeper, said in the mixed zone: "We must win this game without any help." It's crystal clear. There's no need to hide them anymore.
4. By the way, Barça played against Girona before the required 72 hours had passed since their Thursday game against Osasuna. Madrid said, through their coach, that in such cases they would refuse to play. Barça neither cries nor threatens. They play, win, and remain silent. But will that be enough?
