Los Rojiblancos sent out a terrific warning shot to Barca in midweek with a stunning victory..

Been There, Done That

With two games of the Primera Division campaign remaining, Barcelona still have the major hurdle of overcoming Sevilla in Andalusia to overcome if they are to be crowned Spanish champions once again.

Playing los Rojiblancos two months ago, when they were still under the leadership of Manolo Jimenez, may have been a very winnable objective, but under the stewardship of Antonio Alvarez, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan side have become a very different beast.

Perfect at home since the caretaker boss took over in late March, Sevilla have won five of eight fixtures since that time. Not only are they winning again, Alvarez has them playing in an attractive attacking style, which Jimenez stubbornly refuse to do. Twenty goals have been scored in their last seven fixtures, which is a league-high tally.

Unlike many teams in world football, Sevilla know that they can beat Barcelona. Indeed, it was los Nervionenses who upset la Blaugrana in the Copa del Rey earlier this year, becoming the first club to ever deprive Pep Guardiola’s vintage of silverware. A stunning 2-1 victory was recorded in the first leg in the Catalan capital, rendering the 1-0 reverse eight days later impotent.

Coming off the back of a 5-1 away win against Racing Santander, if Sevilla can continue their good form, they could go a long way to preventing the Camp Nou outfit retaining their league crown.

Unbelievable

With Real Madrid still hotly on their tail going into the midweek encounter against Tenerife, three points were absolutely essential for Barcelona to maintain their lead at the summit of the Primera Division. In a downpour, Pep Guardiola’s side delivered.

Lionel Messi produced a deft finish to put the Catalan giants into the ascendancy, but they received a shock when a goal from Roman Martinez just before the break had the Canary Islanders level. Barca showcased their muscle in front of goal in the second period, with Bojan Krkic, Pedro and Messi again finding the net.

There was no holding back from coach Guardiola, who has promised to treat each match until the end of the season as if it was a cup final. Remarkably, with just a couple of games remaining this season, he is adopting a laidback attitude to the remainder of the campaign.

“Madrid deserves to win the league and we do too, which is why I have, in these eight days, the tranquillity of a job well done,” he explained to the press. “I cannot blame the team, or demand more. How can you ask them to win the league? If they do, great but if not, great also.

“So I said at halftime, ‘Win it if you can and if not, don't worry about it.’

“We have 93 points and even I can't believe it. We will have to go to Sevilla to win to be champions. This is the 17th consecutive game that we’ve played every three or four days. The effort is incredible.”

Such a titanic struggle really deserves to go to the wire, and if that is the case, Guardiola will hope his side are still in pole position going into the last weekend, no matter what he has told the press.

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