“Losing to Madrid hurts but we’re closer to winning,” Gerard Piqué said at the end of the last clásico. It was a curious kind of consolation after yet another defeat knocked Barcelona out of the Spanish Super Cup, but this time there was something for them to cling to. That, at least, was the hope and since then it has hardened into something more tangible. The 282nd meeting between these clubs may offer an indication of how much closer they have come or how far they still have to travel.
Fifteen points behind, it is too late for Barcelona to win the league, the title in Madrid’s hands with weeks to spare, but maybe the clásico can become a proper contest again. Not so much on Sunday night, although that too, but beyond.
