A win over Barcelona could send Real Madrid running away with La Liga
The La Liga title won't be decided in December. To indicate otherwise is somewhere between silly and outright dishonest. With Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid all so good and capable or putting together a dozen wins in a row, the Spanish champion will be up for grabs until late into the spring. Still, it's hard not to see Saturday's Clasico as the possible start of Real Madrid's run to a dominant La Liga championship.
Real Madrid already sit six points clear of Barcelona, and a win over the Catalans will put them nine up. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid are already nine back. In fact, if the Merengues take down Barca, Sevilla will be sitting in second place.
Nine points isn't an insurmountable lead, but with Real Madrid, it could prove to be.
Zinedine Zidane's team have jumped to the top of the table with an undefeated start, winning 10 and drawing three. That includes a 3-0 throttling of Atletico. There is no doubt that, to this point, they've been the best team in the league. And they may only be getting better.
Real Madrid have been this dominant despite suffering through a spate of injures. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Pepe and Keylor Navas all dealt with problems before the season even started. Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos and Casemiro all missed stretches this season, and now Toni Kroos and Gareth Bale are sidelined.
It's been almost ridiculous how many injuries that Real Madrid have dealt with. And yet, there they stand on top of the heap.
Theoretically, the Merengues will have to get healthy at some point. At least more healthy than they have been. And when that happens, they'll only get better.
What if Real Madrid are already on top of the table by double-digit points and then improve? We could be looking at them wrapping up the league with five or six matches to go.
Of course, this is looking far into the future and playing the "what if?" game. We're assuming they beat Barcelona on Saturday, which is hardly a guarantee. It may not even be likely. And that they withstand their current injuries. And that they get healthier. And that they play better when they get players back on the field.
That's a lot of ifs. But they're all perfectly reasonable and they start with beating Barcelona on Saturday. If they do that, we could look back at the match as the start of Real Madrid running away with their first La Liga title since 2012.
