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With 4 straight wins and outscoring opponents 11-1 over that span, Barcelona appear to be right back where they belong, top of La Liga. Who's right behind them through 9 games? Real Madrid. The fairy tale start for Granada came to a crashing halt before the international break when Real reminded Granada who is who. It was a good recovery for Granada though to beat Osasuna to still be within 2 points of Barca through 9. But who realistically things Granada will stay this close as the season progresses? Who thinks Sociedad can stay alive?
Atletico Madrid, the most likely team outside the big two to actually nip them of the title, have actually not been able to do so since 2014 but have always remained competitive. This season is giving you a glaring reason as to why. They just don't seem to win when they really need to win. They draw. With 4 draws in their last 5 and a third straight over the weekend at home to Athletic Bilbao, they have already put themselves in a major uphill battle to have a chance. 3 points behind leaders Barca doesn't appear to be a lot but it's the fact that if they converted even 2 of those draws into wins, they would be ahead of Barca. When the likes of Barcelona and Madrid slip up, a club must pounce in order to really make the statement that they can cause a major problem. They would be level with their Madrid rivals if they had won as Real went to Mallorca and lost. But they were spared because Atleti couldn't capitalize. Sevilla, after coming strong out of the gate, has now lost 3 of their last 5. Getting beaten at home to Real seemed to take the wind out of their sails completely as they then lost to Eibar the following week and then didn't even really show up for the Barcelona match.
It's a long season and we're only 9 games in, but less so than the Bundesliga as written in a previous article, I really feel this league is only going to go more to normalcy rather than remain close as the season progresses. Barcelona and Real at the top just further make me think the gap between second and third will only get wider as the season progresses.
Barcelona look the far more likely of the two though to keep improving. They've scored 7 more and allowed only 1 more than Real and everything seems to finally be clicking for them of late. What could make it more interesting though is if Real get knocked out of the Champions League and this is all they have to really fight for as no one would expect them to take the Europa League seriously as they don't have a fear of not finishing in La Liga's top 4. The main question would be will Zidane be around if they're not in the Champions League knockout rounds?