Last weekend Real Madrid opened up a nine point gap at the top of La Liga after beating third place Villarreal, while Barcelona were held to a draw by 16th placed Athletic Bilbao. Real boss, Bernd Schuster, now believes that complacency is the Galacticos biggest threat to his side defending their title, but lot can still happen with seventeen matchdays left.
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Real Madrid are racing away with La Liga having strung together an eight game winning sequence, including the three clubs directly below them. Given that form coach, Bernd Schuster, cannot be criticised for thinking that the only team that can stop Real Madrid reclaiming the title is themselves. Next up are Primera newcomers, Almeria, who in eighth place, have surprised many by how well they have acclimatised to life in the top tier of Spanish football.
Whereas Real Madrid have never been out of the Primera division, the modern incarnation of Almeria have been as low as the third tier in their short history (founded in 1989). The Estadio del Mediterraneo – capacity 15,000 - could hardly provide a greater contrast to the 80,400 seater Santiago Bernabeu, but the Andalusians have actually conceded fewer goals at home (7) than the league leaders, and have recorded three straight 1-0 wins. The problem for Almeria is that they have only scored eight at home whereas Madrid have notched twenty on the road.
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Barcelona slipped up again last weekend, drawing away to Athletic Club de Bilbao, placed 16th in La Liga, while the Real Madrid bandwagon rolled on opening up a nine point gap. Another slip up from Barca and there will be double figure difference between the top two sides. Even with Lionel Messi back restored to the starting line-up, the Catalans couldn’t protect a 1-0 lead courtesy of Bojan Krkic. The absence of Ya Ya Toure and Samuel Eto’o in Ghana, and Rafael Marquez and Ronaldinho to injury, have clearly blunted Barcelona, and they have the added burden of a Copa Del Rey clash on Thursday night.
Despite their inability to keep pace with Real Madrid, Frank Rijkaard’s side should still have too much for Osasuna at the Nou Camp on Sunday. The visitors have the worse offensive record on the road - apart from the bottom club Levante – losing their last four games away from home conceding ten goals, and scoring just one. Los Rojillos are just one point above the relegation zone, and have lost each of the last three visits to the Nou Camp by an identical 3-0 scoreline.
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