BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Real Madrid faces one last stumbling block in its waltz toward the Spanish league title.
Barcelona, its chief rival, is coming to town on Sunday.
Madrid is eight points ahead of Barcelona going into the clasico, so anything other than a road win for the Catalan club would leave the Liga leader with a more-than-comfortable cushion with just six more games remaining.
“If we manage to win it, we’ll be within touching distance of La Liga title,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday.
Madrid will play four days after it eliminated Manchester City on penalties to advance to the Champions League semifinals. Following that 120-minute extra-time game, Madrid’s Jude Bellingham said he was “dead on my feet” after his team hung on against City and forced a shootout.
But Ancelotti said his players, while needing some extra rest in the meantime, will be ready for “a hard-fought and evenly matched clasico.”
‘The Blue Angels,’ filmed for IMAX, puts viewers in the ‘box’ with the elite flying squad
Biden bows to pressure from anti
I was sent an explicit photo by a stranger on my birthday so I took hilarious revenge on him
No, France did not deploy troops to fight with Ukraine against Russia
The fightback begins: Boss of London's Queen Mary University tells pro
Netanyahu uses Holocaust ceremony to brush off international pressure against Gaza offensive
Chicago Sky rookie Kamilla Cardoso out at least a month with a shoulder injury
The family of Irvo Otieno criticizes move to withdraw murder charges against 5 deputies
Inquiry slams UK authorities for failures that killed thousands in infected blood scandal
Trump faces jail threat over gag order as prosecutors zero in on transactions at heart of the case