Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: 11 finals to decide the La Liga title

A mini-league of 11 games will get underway next month if La Liga returns as planned, with Barcelona and Real Madrid competing to  be crowned champions of Spain. 

Two points separate leaders Barça and second-placed Madrid, with third-placed Sevilla 11 points off the top. La Liga hope the final games will be completed in a six-week period, with the season-ending in July. 

Javier Tebas has mentioned July 12 as a possible restart date, although it depends on how the coronavirus pandemic evolves in Spain. 

The first factor to have in mind is, with so many games in such a short space of  time, Madrid have a deeper squad. If Quique Setien wants to rotate, he will have to look at the B team. However, Luis Suarez's return to fitness is a genuine luxury for Barça. 

Nothing will be the same as before and that also applied to the calendar. The fact that games will be played behind closed doors could favour Barça, who have six away games and five home games to be played. Madrid, who want to play at Valdebebas and not the Bernabeu, have six homes games and five away games. 

Barça's tricky games away from home are at Sevilla and Celta Vigo. At home, marked in red is Atletico Madrid's visit and the Catalan derby against relegation fighting Espanyol. 

Madrid have dangerous trips to Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, without forgetting Espanyol, Granada and Leganes. At home, they have Valencia and Getafe who could pose problems. 

In general, the fixtures look similar and it's difficult to say who has it better. You never know at this stage of the season how teams at the bottom will fight and how teams in the middle will fall away -- and that's without throwing in all the coronavirus, behind closed door factors. 

Barcelona's calendar...

1st/58 pts 27P 18W 4D 5L 63GF 31GA

J.28 Mallorca-Barça

J.29 Barça-Leganés

J.30 Sevilla-Barça

J.31 Barça-Athletic

J.32 Celta-Barça

J.33 Barça-Atlético

J.34 Villarreal-Barça

J.35 Barça-Espanyol

J.36 Valladolid-Barça

J.37 Barça-Osasuna

J.38 Alavés-Barça

...and Real Madrid's calendar 

2nd/56 pts 27P 16W 8D 3L 49GF 19GA

J.28 R. Madrid-Eibar

J.29 R. Madrid-Valencia

J.30 R. Sociedad-R. Madrid

J.31 R. Madrid-Mallorca

J.32 Espanyol-R. Madrid

J.33 R. Madrid-Getafe

J.34 Athletic-R. Madrid

J.35 R. Madrid-Alavés

J.36 Granada-R. Madrid

J.37 R. Madrid-Villarreal

J.38 Leganés-R. Madrid