FCBARCELONA.CAT

12.12.2008 10:59

A title-winning lead

Anna Segura

FC Barcelona go into el Clásico against Real Madrid on Saturday with a nine-point advantage in the table and only once before in the last 20 years has that happened.

Los Merengues visit Camp Nou this weekend and Pep Guardiola’s side are being billed as clear favourites given the gap between them in the league, but the Blaugrana players have not been making any predictions with Xavi explaining that clásicos “are different”.

Historic differences

On previous occasions when Barça have faced Madrid with a nine-point lead over them the Catalan outfit have always gone on to win the league title that season. The most recent time was during the 2005-06 campaign when Frank Rijkaard’s team had an eleven-point advantage over their rivals when the two teams met in week 30 of the season. The game finished 1-1 and that proved to be a crucial point in the title win.

The Dream Team

Johan Cruyff’s Blaugrana side also enjoyed a big lead over Madrid in the 1990-91 season when the gap was eight points between the two sides. Michael Laudrup netted and Spasic scored an own goal to give Barça a 2-1 victory and that made the difference between them even greater.

Recent results

Real Madrid have done well on their visits to Camp Nou in recent season however. Last term Julio Baptista scored the only goal to give the away team victory, while the precious two campaigns saw the points shared on both occasions as Lionel Messi netted a hat-trick in a thrilling 3-3 draw in the 2006-07 season.

As previously stated, the 2005-06 ended even which means that the last time that Barça won against Madrid in the league at home was in the 2004-05 campaign when a 3-0 victory was secured.