Crunch Time for Barça.

Barça’s chances at the treble are very legit now. A victory today against Atlético Madrid means they win the league title with two more to go.

What a week it was for Barça. Although they suffered a 3-2 loss in Germany to Bayern Munich, their 3-0 first leg result last week pretty much ensured that they would heading to the Champions League Final in Berlin in June. The chase for the treble is officially on and Barça can win the first title today in Madrid with a victory over Atlético Madrid.

Ironic that it was one year ago to this day when Atlético Madrid came to the Camp Nou and played Barça to 1-1 draw in the final match of the season for the league crown. Today, Barça can exact revenge by winning the league title on Atlético Madrid’s turf. With only two matches left on the schedule, and a four point lead over Real Madrid, it would be best for Barça to get the job done today and rest their players for next week’s final league match against Deportivo at the Camp Nou.

Barça have gotten this far thanks to the excellent form of the front three of Messi, Neymar and Suarez. They have all contributed in the big games and we expect them to continue to do so in these next three big games. The first final is today and the next two are on May 30th against Athletic Club for the Copa del Rey trophy at the Camp Nou and then for the Champions League trophy in Berlin on June 8 against Juventus.

This is the third time Barça and Athletic meet in a final in recent history while this is the first time Barça and Juventus meet on the European stage since 2002-2003 season. However, as Pique reminded everyone on Friday when he said, "The way people are talking it's as if we'd already won the treble, and that's not the case. The finals are against two historic clubs and we still haven't won anything yet. "We're close but and we have to keep our feet on the ground." He is right. Barca need to take it one match at a time and focus solely on today and not look ahead.

Barça Treble Talk Is Premature.

Things are still going well for Barça. They qualified for the Copa del Rey Final, are in the driver’s seat in their Champions League tie against Manchester City, and currently are league leaders. However, all this talk about another Barça treble is premature at this moment.

Barça’s disappointing loss to Malaga has become nothing but a distant memory. Barça seemed to struggle with taking advantage of opportunities to breathe down Real Madrid’s necks. Now, they are the ones breathing the fresh air atop of the league summit after finally capturing it. The mood is better at the Camp Nou regarding the manager and players; but not the club administration though. They qualified for their 37th Copa del Rey final where they will face Athletic Club at a yet to be determined venue and enjoy a 2-1 aggregate lead against Manchester City in the first leg of the knock out stage of their UEFA Champions League tie.

However, let’s not get too carried away with any treble talk. In a quest of such magnitude, one must remain humble and focus on only the next match at hand. Pep brought that one game at a time approach and Luis Enrique repeated it today ahead of tomorrow’s second leg match against Manchester City. When asked about this weekend’s El Clásico match, the manager replied, “There is only one game for us and that’s the one tomorrow. Nothing else matters to me right now”.

Up only 2-1, the tie against Manchester City is far from over. It is true that Barça enjoy the upper hand knowing that Manchester City enter the match knowing they need to score two goals at the Camp Nou. However, crazier things have happened to Barça at the Camp Nou. Barça’s “Dream Team” were knocked out of the second round of the qualifying stage for the 92-93 Champions League by CSKA Moskva with a second leg 2-3 loss at the Camp Nou after a 1-1 away draw in Russia. At one point, Barça were leading 2-0 before the Russian side scored three unanswered goals to eliminate the Blaugrana from Europe.

Barça’s match against Manchester City cannot be taken for granted. Barça still has the tendency to give up goals and with the absence of Busquets, one wonders how the midfield will look like in his absence. Even if Barça advance, the teams awaiting them in the Quarter-Finals will not be pushovers. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Porto and PSG will be waiting for them along with possible teams such as Dortmund or Juventus, Monaco, and Atlético. The path to the Champions League final will not be an easy path, that’s for sure.

Even this weekend’s Clásico cannot be considered that decisive. When Barça won the treble back in 2008-2009, El Clásico took place in the final month of the season, not in March. After this weekend’s clash, there will be an additional 10 league matches to be played. That’s 30 possible points. A win this weekend will give them a four point cushion with another 30 points to be contested by both sides. Clearly, having a small lead is a great boost for morale but a lot can happen over 10 matches too.

I have always been a firm believer that the league is decided in the final five league matches. So any talk of Barça winning or going for the treble by fans is very premature. The media will start talking about it because it’s their job to do so. Some were talking about Real Madrid winning all six titles this season and look how quickly that discussion ended. Only one club from Spain has ever won the treble so it’s no easy task at all. Therefore, let’s wait till May before we can utter the word “treble.” Until then, the Blaugrana faithful need to just take it one match at a time.