Barcelona, Madrid play last games with title in the balance

BARCELONA, Spain — It all comes down to the last match.

With the title still up for grabs, Barcelona and Real Madrid have one game to play on Saturday with only one point separating them.

Barcelona can retain its title, making it eight in 12 years and 24 in club history, with a victory at Granada. At the same time, Madrid visits Deportivo La Coruna hoping to culminate a spectacular comeback and get a huge boost of confidence for its Champions League final against Atletico Madrid on May 28.

“This match is custom made for Barcelona’s players. This type of game is what inspires teams,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said Friday. “There are games when you have to motivate players, but there is more than enough motivation for this game. It is more about controlling the emotions.”

Barcelona holds a one-point advantage and the tiebreaker over Madrid, so the team coached by Zinedine Zidane needs to beat Deportivo and hope Barcelona drops points to add to its record 32 titles.

Zidane has asked his players to concentrate on their match, and said he would not follow the score from Barcelona’s game from the dugout while his team plays.

“I’m not going to find out what has happened (with Barcelona’s match) until the end,” Zidane said. “We don’t depend on ourselves, but we have to think only about our match and how we can win and get the three points. Then we will see.

“We have faith. We have won 11 games (in a row) and we are within one point with one match to go. We have to believe until the very last second.”

Here are some more things to know about Saturday’s decisive matches:

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LUIS’S LEGACY

Last season, Luis Enrique matched Pep Guardiola’s treble of Champions League, Spanish league and Copa del Rey titles.

And his team was on course to repeat that feat until it fell to Atletico in the Champions League quarterfinals. That coincided with a three-game losing run in the Spanish league which let Madrid surge back into contention.

Now, Barcelona’s season, regardless of the outcome of the Copa del Rey final against Sevilla on May 22, rests on whether it can handle the pressure at Granada.

“I think we recovered the level of play that we are accustomed to several weeks ago,” Luis Enrique said. “Now, it is just like every week. We have to play better than Granada, create more chances and limit theirs to get as close as we can to taking the three points.”

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THE ZIDANE EFFECT

Zidane made his debut as a top coach against Deportivo in January, when his new team thrilled the Santiago Bernabeu with a decisive 5-0 win that its fans hoped was a sign of bigger things to come.

Since replacing the fired Rafa Benitez, Zidane has guided the team to the Champions League final and a strong record of 16 wins, two draws and one loss in the Spanish league.

“I am happy, not only my work, but that of all my players,” Zidane said. “But I haven’t won anything yet. We will see after the season is over. We have two very important finals to play.”

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TOP GUNS

Barcelona and Madrid claim six of the top seven goal scorers in the competition, and the title could depend on which trio has its day.

Barcelona’s Luis Suarez leads the league with 37 goals. The Uruguay striker is supported by Lionel Messi, who has scored 26 times, and Neymar with 24.

Suarez has scored 11 of those goals in the last four matches, helping Barcelona end a four-game winless slide that almost cost it the league lead with a run of four straight wins by the combined score of 21-0.

Cristiano Ronaldo tops Madrid’s scorers with 33 goals in the league. Karim Benzema has added 24, with Gareth Bale contributing 19, including a few critical winners in recent weeks.

Bale returned to practice after missing last weekend’s match with a leg injury. Zidane said that Ronaldo and Benzema were completely recovered from their nagging leg injuries as well.

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THE OPPONENTS

Both Granada and Deportivo are safe from the relegation fight and without options of earning a berth in European competition next season.

Madrid has won on its last four visits to Deportivo, but Riazor Stadium is traditionally a tough ground for Madrid, where it has won 13 times in 49 visits.

Barcelona has dropped points on nine of 21 trips to Granada’s Los Carmenes Stadium.

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THE PRECEDENTS

If history matters, it’s on Barcelona’s side.

This will be the eighth time the two powerhouses have both arrived to the final round with options to win the title. Barcelona came out on top in six of the previous seven occasions.

The Catalan club edged Madrid in the inaugural 1929 league and did so again in 1960.

It got much worse for Madrid during back-to-back debacles in 1992 and 1993, when it lost an advantage to Barcelona in the final round with losses at Tenerife.

Madrid finally outdid Barcelona in 2007, while a Barcelona side coached Guardiola protected its lead to win in 2010.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Ronaldo hails Zidane as Real reach Champions League final

Cristiano Ronaldo lauded the impact made by Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane as the Frenchman led the Spanish giants into the Champions League final with a 1-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday.

Brazilian midfielder Fernando’s first-half own goal was the only difference between the sides over two legs as Real set up a repeat of the 2014 final against local rivals Atletico Madrid in Milan on May 28.

Zidane replaced the sacked Rafael Benitez with Madrid in crisis in January, but has sparked just Real’s second run to the final in the 14 years since he scored the winning goal against Bayer Leverkusen for Real in 2002.

“Zidane is doing a great job,” said Ronaldo.

“I admire him as a coach and a person, I hope he continues in the job.

“We’ve always been behind Zidane because he is a humble person who likes to listen, and that always makes things easier.”

Ronaldo made his return after a three-game absence due to a thigh injury, but was unable to match his own record of 17 Champions League goals in a single season in a tight game short on clear-cut chances.

“It was a complete game, the team played really well and we could have finished them off with a second goal—1-0 is a tight scoreline but it’s enough,” added Ronaldo.

Zidane admitted he could bask in some of the glory for Real’s resurgence of 19 wins in his 24 games in charge, but reserved his praise for the players.

“I am the coach, so I am doing something right for sure, but it is not just me,” said the Frenchman.

“It is a question of all the people working with me and the most important people are the players. It is them that allow you to win in football.”

By contrast, City coach Manuel Pellegrini will give way to Pep Guardiola at the end of the season having failed to get them to a final in his three seasons in charge.

The Chilean lamented his side’s luck as Gareth Bale’s intended cross deflected off Fernando and looped over the helpless Joe Hart for the only goal of the tie.

However, Pellegrini admitted City hadn’t created nearly enough to merit a place in the final.

“Neither of the two teams deserved to win the game,” said Pellegrini.

“I don’t think we saw a superior Madrid, we pressed them, but with the ball we lacked the creativity to do damage.

“There was lot of work in the 180 minutes, but very little football.”

However, Pellegrini defended his record having taken City to the last four for the first time and believes they will have the potential to go all the way under Guardiola.

“I think it is a special season because we have reached the semis,” he added.

“We are not happy, but I don’t think we deserved to compete the final. They had that bit of luck.

“In the Champions League it is a step more, but I think this team must always try to play the final in the next years.”

source: sports.inquirer.net