Nothing but the champion has been decided

With nine rounds of matches remaining before the end of the season, the only thing that seems certain is Barcelona winning the title but as for the rest, the La Liga season is set to go to the wire. For anyone else bar Barca to win the Spanish league title, it requires the league leaders to drop more points over the final nine games than they have in the first 29 games.With Real Madrid 13 points behind, and Atletico a point further behind in third place, the run-in would need a scenario where the chasing pack must have a 100% record—and that isn’t going to happen, I am afraid. Even though José Mourinho’s side have been noticeably better since the start of 2013, they could hardly have been worse than the end of 2012. The reigning champions are conceding too many goals to suggest that they won’t stumble again between now and the end of the season.However, the big question is whether Atletico can take advantage of their Champions League-distracted neighbors and move back into second.“The goal is to finish the season in the best way possible,” said Atletico’s Argentina coach Diego Simeone. “All the good work we’ve done will be more important if we can manage to finish well.”At one stage, Madrid’s second biggest club, were being tipped to pull off a shocker and win the league but that was before Barcelona had gotten into their stride.Fourth-placed Real Sociedad have lost just once in 18 matches and have beaten Barca, scored three in the Santiago Bernabeu and been the only side to take points off Atlético at the Vicente Calderón this season. Although it would be truly amazing to see another unfamiliar team in the Champions League, Real Sociendad’s problem though is they are a young and relatively small squad which might find it difficult to get through the final nine games without suffering any further blips. Valencia are two points behind RSociedad, and even though not being nearly as exciting in La Liga this season, the Mestalla side have the experience to grind out enough points to take fourth spot and a place in next season’s Champions League qualifying stage. Relegation battleThe teams occupying the three relegation places are all renowned clubs and for that, they shouldn’t be languishing at the bottom but they are and unless one or two or three of them pull off a stunning run of form in the next 9 games, I don’t see how all three could survive the drop. Celta Vigo (24 pts), Real Mallorca (24 pts) and Deportivo La Coluna (23 pts). Deportivo’s fate could have been sealed last weekend but instead they beat fellow strugglers Mallorca. The Galician side are currently bottom with 23 points, potentially needing six wins from 9 matches to have a chance of staying up. Depor can move off the bottom with a home win over Real Zaragoza, who are one place and three points above the relegation zone, while Mallorca have a daunting trip to runner away champions Barca and Celta Vigo could do themselves justice if they beat visiting Rayo Vallacano.