On matchday 32 of La Liga, Barcelona will travel to La Romareda, fully aware that they can’t afford to drop any more points if they wish to have any hope to retain the title that they’ve conquered in each of the past three seasons. Pep Guardiola’s side has been in their best period of the season, with eight consecutive wins in La Liga and booking their place in the Champions League semifinals with a 3-1 win over AC Milan in midweek, and they can’t afford to lose any ground with the most crucial stretch of the season upon them.
On the other hand, Zaragoza looked as good as gone just a few weeks ago, but three consecutive wins and 10 points in four matches against difficult opponents like Atlético Madrid and Valencia have completely revamped their hope of staying up. They were once more than 10 points below the safety zone, but they are now only four points away from it. Barcelona’s visit doesn’t exactly come at the best of times, but Manolo Jiménez has already said that a defeat would not be a disaster for his team, since there will be six more games where his team will have a much better chance of collecting points. Still, any point earned against the defending champions will be worth gold for Zaragoza and they will not give up without a fight.