Weekends rarely end as perfectly as they did last Sunday, when FC Barcelona not only won the Clásico in convincing style, but also mathematically secured a 29th La Liga title. Monday followed with the excitement of the champions parade through the streets of the Catalan capital.
But the players have switched off party mode and are back to full focus on football. Because although this Wednesday’s visit to Mendizorroza, home of Alavés, matters for nothing in terms of the title, there are plenty of other reasons to keep a winning streak that now extends to 11 games in the league.
Aiming for 100
Barça have won the league with a majestic 91 points, 14 more than their nearest rivals, but there are still three more games to go, this one away to Alavés, the last one at home against Betis (where they could become the first to ever complete a 20-team league without dropping a single point at home) and finally away to Valencia.
Win those three games, and Barça will have reached the magnificent tally of 100 league points, something that has only ever been done twice before (Real Madrid under Jose Mourinho in 2011-12 and Barça under Tito Vilanova in 2012-13).
But that’s not all. Ferran Torres has his eyes on the Zarra Trophy, for the top-scoring Spaniard, where he is currently tied with Lamine Yamal who is out until the end of the season, and Joan García is strongly poised to win the Zamora for the goalkeeper with the best record.
Alavés in need
But it won’t be easy. While the pressure is off for the Catalans, Alavés are in desperate need of any points they can get. Since Quique Sánchez Flores took over as manager of the Basques in early March, there has been an upturn in the team’s form, but only a very, very slight one.
They’ve only lost two of their last seven matches, and beat both Celta and Mallorca, but they were still third from bottom at the end of the weekend, and have dropped one place lower after Levante won their game on Tuesday night. As things stand, Alavés will be playing second division football next year. But things are extraordinarily tight in the bottom half of the table, where absolutely nobody is safe and where every single point is going to matter between now and the end of the season.
Team news
Now the title is secure, Hansi Flick may opt to rest some of his key players, and especially those who could benefit from some down time after such a fixture-packed campaign and with the World Cup just around the corner.
But Flick himself was offering no clues in that department at his press conference. The closest he came to revealing anything was his comment that if Joan Garcia doesn’t play, it will be Szczesny and not Diego Kochen who takes his place. But that’s if García doesn’t play, which the German has by no means said is indeed the case.
All we know for sure is that Raphinha will miss the game through suspension, and Lamine Yamal through injury. Andreas Christensen is now fully fit again and it may be time for the Dane to return to action, while Flick might also be interested in using the three remaining games to give minutes to some of the less-used members of his squad, or to some of the many young talents emerging from La Masia.