After Barcelona’s 5th league draw this season, Real Madrid are now 5 points clear at the top of La Liga and show no signs of dropping points any time soon. Could this be the season that Jose Mourinho wins the league and does so without beating Barcelona?

Back in December, Real Madrid took the lead against Barcelona after just 22 seconds in the Santiago Bernabeu – everything was going perfectly before Messi once again started to take control. Barcelona eventually finishing the game as 3-1 winners and going top of La Liga in another defeat for Jose Mourinho at the hands of Pep Guardiola. There was an inevitability about the result. Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid despite looking unbeatable in the league just don’t know how to beat Barcelona.

Fast Forward a month and Real have opened up another gap at the top of the league, but importantly this time – it is now entirely in Real Madrid’s hands whether they go on to win the league or not. Even if Barcelona beat them again in El Clásico, it won’t be enough. They’ll have to hope that Madrid drop point somewhere else along the way, and while no-one expects Madrid to win the rest of their remaining games, it would be foolish to think that Barcelona are.