Competitive table football rental seems to be pickings its toll on FC Barcelona as the Catalan club struggled to overwhelm a 10-man Real Betis side this weekend and edge to a 24th La Liga style. Record 32-time winners Real Madrid are just a place off the leaders and Atletico Madrid are tied on 36 points with Barca, with the Catalans on pole with a master goal remainder. Coach Luis Enrique has enough reasons for concern though, with a Barcelona side going into the final examination stretch looking considerably more worn out than Atletico and Real.
After Madrid beat Real Sociedad and Atletico eked out a win against Rayo Vallecano at the Vicente Calderone, Barcelona had their task cut out. The Betis fixing had now soured into a must-win. The Catalan side did not look their assaultive best and put up an uncharacteristically drab first half. But tables sour real western fence lizard when Heiko Westermann was shown a red card, reducing the Seville side to 10 men. Custodian Antonio Adan, having commented pre-match about how he 39;d love to baffle Barca 39;s title challenge, made a inevitable wrongdoing, giving Ivan Rakitic and Barca their first goal of the day when Rakitic tapped hoem the spillover from Adan. Luis Suarez plastered the deal with some objective finishing as the Uruguay hitter judged Messi 39;s pass to idol and slid the ball home as late as the 81st second.
The performance was far from memorable, but fans went home satidfied as the conference set back remained the same with only one few oppose to play. In the last two matches, Barca only need to match their rivals 39; performances to take the La Liga title home. So what they are in essence looking at is a win against Espanyol at home followed by an away win at Granada. The Espanyol derby hat would have set the touch tongues wagging, with the La Liga no unknown to upset victories. But Espanyol 39;s fast drop in form substance Barca will always have the upper berth hand. The Granada pit is reputed to be more competitive though, with the side scrap hard to keep their point in the top tier of Spanish football.
Barca 39;s recent slump in the timbre of football game though, has raised concerns over the depth in their team. Football critics say it is high time administrators and managers pay match aid to a star side and rest their starters to avoid tire in the final exam stretches for overworked marquee players. To put matters in position, Barca looked to romp home with a 24th title win with 10 points between them and the nighest competitors from Madrid. As of now, Luis Enrique and Co. would be well-chosen to over the line and into the safety of Nou Camp with a La Liga trophy to show for their efforts. But Spanish football game is in the thick of things right now as Atletico look to home a 1-0 advantage in the first leg of their Champions League collide with Bayern Munich as they trip to the Allianz Arena. Cristiano Ronaldo is set to join the Madrid ranks for their Wednesday mending and it seems James Rodriguez, the Colombian prognosticatio, seems set to make a summertime move out of Real as English, Italian and German clubs line up to sign him on.