It is safe to say that the Spanish League title race is over.
FC Barcelona won its first match under stand-in coach Jordi Roura in a dominant 3-1 fashion with goals from Xavi, Lionel Messi, and Cristian Tello leading the way. With the win, Barcelona has now won 16 of its first 17 matches and has a tremendous 49 points in the league standings.
Their win alone was not enough to secure them an insurmountable lead atop the league standings, however. Rival Real Madrid lost on Saturday to Malaga and in doing so put themselves 16 points behind their arch-rivals. Coach Jose Mourinho's job is in serious jeopardy as his side played a poor match against the fourth placed team in the league. Madrid now has a record of 10 wins, three draws, and four losses in 17 games and has not won in two straight matches. Madrid now trails second place Atletico Madrid by seven points as well.
Atletico will likely not maintain the pace they have established if striker Radamel Falcao does leave during the January transfer window, but Mourinho's side needs numerous miracles if he has any hopes of getting his title back. With a 16 point deficit, Real needs to win every game remaining and have Barcelona lose at least five and draw two or more. Six losses would also help Real Madrid if they found a way to win the rest of the games this season. Otherwise, Madrid needs Barcelona to obtain another eight or nine draws and they need to win out in order to get back to first place.
None of the scenarios is realistic. Last season when Madrid won the title, they did so with 32 wins, four draws and only two losses. Meanwhile second place Barcelona won 28, lost three, and drew seven. The year before that, Barcelona won the title with 30 wins, six draws, and two losses. In 2009-10, Barcelona managed 31 wins, six draws, and only one loss. But Barcelona is playing better than ever under Tito Vilanova and Lionel Messi is having the best year of his career with 91 goals scored in 2012.
The likelihood of Real Madrid winning the league title is unlikely and it seems that even Mourinho realizes that as he rested his captain and top goalkeeper Iker Casillas for the match against Malaga. The only saving grace for Madrid would be a UEFA Champions League title but with the way Barcelona is playing, that may not be a likely scenario for Madrid either.
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