La Liga: Barcelona Is In Trouble, Real Madrid Ready To Take Advantage

Barcelona drew with Sevilla in a scoreless draw last Friday, putting their La Liga lead in jeopardy. It could get much worse for the Blaugrana.

There was a small struggle in the latter stages of the Barça-Sevilla match as players came together and vented their shared frustrations during a hard-fought scoreless draw. The game had been a war of attrition all night, and things came to a boil.

The game ended scoreless between the two elite La Liga sides, each earning a point. As with most draws in football, one side (and its supporters) consider it a “loss” while the other side sees it as a “win.”

It had to have felt like a loss to the Culés and Lionel Messi and company. Barcelona repeated a theme that has played out all season. The Blaugrana held 64% of the possession and completed 660 passes. However, they had no goals and only three shots on target.

The league leaders only had six key passes, 70 passes into either the attacking third or penalty area, and 54 progressive passes. Their xG was a dire 0.74. Luis Suárez‘s shot in the 87th minute was their best chance – he missed the net.

The tactics were pure Barça, but the execution was slow, meandering, listless, and lacked the usual dynamism that supporters have expected.

The draw and Real Madrid’s win over Real Sociedad two days later placed both mega-clubs even at the top of La Liga table. However, looking at the advanced numbers for both squads, the tide may be shifting in favor of Los Blancos.