Real Madrid's Next Three Games Vital for Liga BBVA Title

While it's never a good idea to cast a gaze ahead in the schedule instead of looking at the opponent right in front of you, Madrid's season will come down to three key games left in the season. As I wrote here, Sevilla and Sociedad on the road will be two brutal games and one cannot overlook Rayo and the test they will pose. That's the gauntlet that Madrid will have to navigate and the game against Sevilla away will speak volumes about this team's mental and physical fortitude following a shambolic loss. The issue is that the CL games against Dortmund are wrapped around the Sociedad game so players will undoubtedly be fatigued. Time for Carlo to show off his man-management skills.

Meanwhile, both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have Atheltic/Villarreal away (Atleti at Athletic, Barca at Villarreal) back-to-back as well as the last game of the season: Atleti at Barca. In addition, these two clubs drew each other in the Champions League and the potential for them battering each other and thus tiring in the league is there therefore Real Madrid must capitalize on this opportunity.

We've seen that Real Madrid is more than capable of beating lower and middle-tier Liga clubs this season but struggle with the big names. Other than Sevilla and Sociedad there don't seem to be any top-tier matchups left on their schedule so barring a freak performance one would think that Real could win out after these three coming games (four out of the six games following Sociedad are at home). Can the same be said for Atleti and Barca? Maybe, but someone will drop points in the last match.

Cross your fingers that Atleti drop points because while the two Madrid sides are tied with 70 points it's Atleti that holds the advantage due to their victory earlier on in the season. Real Madrid absolutely has to win out to have a shot at winning the league and the toughest part of this task is in the next three games.