Madrid: Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso believes his side still have every chance of claiming the La Liga title this year despite falling into third place with just seven games remaining.
Los Blancos’ city rivals Atletico Madrid lead the way on 76 points, one ahead of Barcelona in second with Real a further two points behind the Catalans.
Things are further complicated for Carlo Ancelotti’s men because they have an inferior head-to-head record against both Atletico and Barca meaning they can’t afford to even finish level on points with either of their title rivals.
Two defeats in consecutive games to Barcelona and Sevilla last month have cost Real dearly, but they have bounced back with two comprehensive wins over Rayo Vallecano and Borussia Dortmund and Alonso is hoping there will be more surprises to come in the final few weeks of the season.
“The teams that beat us were in great form, we didn’t play well in two games and we committed errors that we paid very heavily for,” he told the club’s website.
“In the league we have lost the advantage that we had, but we need to keep fighting because there could be surprises. My personal performance is tied to the team. It was not good news for us, but that is football. We were behind before and we came back.”
Madrid face arguably their most difficult league game remaining this season when they travel to face Champions League chasing Real Sociedad on Saturday and, as a former Sociedad player, Alonso knows what to expect in San Sebastian.
“Anoeta is always difficult. They have had two seasons playing well and enjoying great results so the fans are thrilled with the team. We need to recover as quickly as possible because it will be a difficult game and we can’t do anything other than win.”
Cristiano Ronaldo was forced off towards the end of Real’s 3-0 win over Dortmund on Wednesday due to a slight knee injury, but Alonso is confident he will be fit to start against Sociedad.
“Cristiano did the right thing in coming off as a precaution, but I don’t think he will have any problems in playing on Saturday. Today he trained normally with the team.”
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have more serious injury problems to overcome as they host Villarreal and Real Betis respectively on Saturday.
Barca defender Gerard Pique will miss the next four weeks after suffering a hairline fracture in his right hip during the Catalans 1-1 draw against Atletico in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.
Gerardo Martino will therefore be pressed into pairing Marc Bartra alongside Javier Mascherano for the a crucial period that will encompass the title run-in as well as the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid and the return leg away to Atletico on Wednesday.
Martino is expected to rotate his squad for the visit of Betis with Alex Song, Adriano, Pedro Rodriguez and Alexis Sanchez set to feature.
Meanwhile, Barcelona’s 164,000 members will have the chance to vote on Saturday to decide whether the club should go ahead with an ambitious €600 million ($827 million, Dh3.03 billion) plan to redevelop the Camp Nou.
However, the project could be hijacked by a wave of bad publicity suffered by the Barcelona board in recent months.
On Wednesday the club were hit with a 14-month ban on signing players by Fifa for breaching rules on the signing of players under the age of 18.
The news follows the controversial signing of Brazilian star Neymar last year, which led to Sandro Rosell resigning as the club’s president in January and the club being charged with tax fraud.
New president Josep Maria Bartomeu has tried to insist that the importance of the project means it should not be used as a referendum on the current board, despite the fact the refused to call new elections when Rosell resigned.
“It is a project that will last for the next 50 or 60 years, therefore it cannot be something tied to this board,” he said in an exclusive interview with AFP last month.
“All that we have done is for the club, we have worked at it, done the studies and now we are putting forward an informative and democratic campaign to the members. The important thing for us and everyone else is that the referendum is the club’s project, not the board’s.”
However, there has been opposition to the project by certain section of the Barca support who see it as a move to further commercialise the club’s name.
Of the proposed €600 million budget, 200 million will come from adding a sponsor’s name to the historic Camp Nou title.
The rest of the funding will be generated by a €200 million loan and part of the nearly €500 million income that the club already generates annually.
The plans include putting a roof on Europe’s largest football stadium and increasing its capacity further from 99,000 to 105,000, as well as building a new multi-purpose indoor arena, a new stadium for the Barca B team, office and parking facilities.
Should the project get the green light, the club insist that supporters will be able to enjoy a significantly more comfortable match day experience than is possible in the nearly 60-year-old stadium.
Moreover, a drastic improvement to the club’s hospitality services will create greater income from one of the few revenue sources they currently fall behind their rivals on the European stage. Income which can, in turn, be used to bolster the playing staff.
In other games this weekend, Atletico’s top scorer Diego Costa will be also sidelined due to a hamstring problem he picked up against Barca, despite the injury not being as serious as first feared.
Arda Turan could also be missing for Diego Simeone’s men as continues to be plagued by a sports hernia, whilst captain Gabi is suspended.
It is also another important weekend at the foot of the table as nine teams are separated by just six points in the bottom half.
Six of those sides go head-to-head as Rayo Vallecano host Celta Vigo, Granada travel to Malaga in an Andalusian derby and Elche welcome Getafe.
