Flick's Barca are La Liga leaders with second-fewest points in 22 years

26 matchdays have passed in this season's lively La Liga and Barcelona find themselves narrowly at the top of the standings with 57 points to their name. The Catalans' 4-0 win over Real Sociedad at the weekend sees them spending another week at the summit, with Atletico Madrid (56) and Real Madrid (54) sitting just behind in second and third.
Teams in the Spanish top flight seem to be more evened-out than ever this term, resulting in the big three (Barca, Atletico and Real Madrid) dropping more points than usual and with 12 rounds to go until the end of the campaign, the title race looks set to go right down to the wire. According to 'Mundo Deportivo', Hansi Flick's side are topping the table after 26 matchday with the second-fewest points in the last 22 years. Only Real Madrid had less as they were leaders with 56 points in 2019/20.
Despite their relatively low tally, Zinedine Zidane's 'Los Blancos' were crowned champions, ending the season with 87 points - five ahead of Quique Setien's 'Blaugranas' and 17 ahead of Diego Simeone's 'Colchoneros'. Since the turn of the century, six of the last eight teams who were leading with less than 60 points after 26 matchdays, ended up winning the La Liga title.
Real Madrid in 2000/01 (56), 2002/03 (54), 2007/08 (59) and 2019/20 (56), Barcelona in 2004/05 (59) and Valencia in 2001/02 (fewest tally since the beginning of the century with 44 points) managed to see out the trophy despite having less than 60 points after 26 matchdays in La Liga. Real Madrid in 2003/04 and Barcelona in 2006/07 were the two sides unable to deliver under the same circumstances, losing out to Valencia and Real Madrid respectively.