Now it's Real Madrid's turn to suffer a tricky run of La Liga fixtures
After the Clasico at Camp Nou in which Barcelona reaffirmed their leadership of La Liga by beating Real Madrid 2-1, Carlo Ancelotti and his players pinned their hopes on Barcelona being upset by their tough schedule, including Champions League ties against Manchester City and PSG.
The calculations have not worked as they hoped, despite plenty of suffering and a lower quality of football than you might expect from the Blaugrana, such as against Valencia on Saturday in the 2-0 win.
Even with a stumble, in the draw against Sevilla (2-2), Barcelona are still two points ahead of Real Madrid, having beaten Celta Vigo 1-0 away and Almeria 4-0 at the Camp Nou, as well as playing well in Europe.
The club have completed four of a five game tricky streak in La Liga, with the fifth away against Espanyol next Saturday. The Catalan derby is often a tough affair, especially at the Cornella El Prat.
Real Madrid have tricky games remaining too, though. They must play away at Celta Vigo next week, one of the toughest away matches of the season, enjoying only one "rest" game, against Almeria at home, before they go away to Sevilla, host Valencia and then play at Espanyol.
Real Madrid's calendar is, in theory, good for Barcelona, who host Getafe, visit Cordoba and then welcome Real Sociedad to the Camp Nou. The trickiest test remaining for Lucho is the trip to the Vicente Calderon, to face Atletico Madrid in the penultimate game week of the season.
Madrid have two important injuries in Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, but if they can negotiate their tough games it could boil down to the final day. Real Madrd v Getafe and Barcelona v Deportivo are the fixtures which could decide La Liga.
