Barcelona take on a draining April with a packed calendar

April has 30 days and is relentless. The month before the report cards are handed out at the end of the season, and in it, if you haven’t done your homework, there’s no more time to study. In May there will be a league and a cup champion, and the Champions League finalists will be ready to travel to Cardiff. April starts on Saturday and it will not allow errors or distractions.

Barcelona play, from, Sunday, nine games in 30 days, one every three or four. Without a break. Seven in La Liga and two against Juventus in the Champions League quarter finals. Luis Enrique spoke without blushing but with humility, about the treble, through the season. He has prepared and led the team to arrive at the best possible condition today. Still alive in three competitions. It has been tough, but he’s done it. 

Los Carmenes, in Granada, is the first stop of the seven league games. Four away and three at home. Before heading to Turin to face Juve, Barcelona face Sergi Samper’s Granada in Andalusia, host Sevilla and head to Malaga.

Then comes the UCL clash away, Real Sociedad at home and Juventus again, at Camp Nou as well. 

On April 23, St Jordi’s day, a special day in Catalunya, Madrid host Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu. Both play four league matches before that game, which could be decisive in the title race. Los Blancos have the lead by two points and also a game in hand, to arrange against Celta Vigo in Galicia. 

Barcelona hosts Osasuna in the penultimate game in April, on the 26th, a midweek, before they go to rivals Espanyol in the final weekend of the month, week 34 of the season. A derby at Cornella El Prat, a derby that is always demanding and intense, to see off the month. If Barcelona get to the end of the month with the chance to still be league champions and are in the Champions League semis, they will be doing very well indeed.