Liga champions without playing?
La Liga 2024/25 is now within touching distance for FC Barcelona. In fact, the title could end up being celebrated without even kicking a ball.
That's because Real Madrid play first against Mallorca at the Santiago Bernabéu, and if the all-whites don't win that one, the blaugrana confetti can already be released.
It wouldn’t be the first time Barça have clinched the league thanks to a favourable result in someone else’s game. The precedents came in 1991, 2009 and 2013, when thousands of fans huddled around radios or TVs to follow a match their own team wasn’t even playing, but whose outcome could deliver a happy ending.
Victory under Cruyff
We could start with the 1990/91 season, when Johan Cruyff was in charge. The Dream Team lifted its first league title, and Barça’s 11th overall, after Atlético Madrid lost 2-1 away to Real Sociedad. Joy erupted on 12 May 1991, even though Barça themselves had turned in a dismal performance the day before, losing 4-0 at Cádiz.
Nothing, however, could spoil that dominant 1990/91 campaign, powered by names such as Alexanco, Amor, Bakero, Txiki Begiristain, Guardiola, Koeman, Laudrup, Stoichkov and Zubizarreta. The Catalans would go on to win four straight leagues under Cruyff!
Another under Pep Guardiola
Josep Guardiola and Hansi Flick already share one distinction: they are the only managers ever to win a sextuple. Flick could add also emulate the predecessor by celebrating a Liga title without his team actually playing, just as Guardiola did on 16 May 2009. Barça were crowned champions thanks to a Real Madrid defeat away to Villarreal, sealed by a last-gasp goal from Joan Capdevila. Barça played the next day and lost in Mallorca, but the title was already theirs.
It was Guardiola’s second trophy of the season after winning the Copa del Rey, and that extraordinary squad, featuring Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Valdés, Messi, Henry and Eto’o, would go on to claim a historic treble.
And Vilanova too
The most recent precedent came in 2012/13, when Tito Vilanova led a team packed with La Masia graduates. Víctor Valdés, Puyol, Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta, Thiago, Cesc and Messi all celebrated the title without playing after Real Madrid drew away to Espanyol with four games left. The following day, newly crowned Barça won 2-1 away to Atlético Madrid, pushing their record haul to 100 points and finishing 15 clear of Real.
At present, Barça hold a seven-point lead over their nearest challenger (again Real Madrid) with three matches to go. A Madrid slip-up against Mallorca this Wednesday 14 May (9pm CEST) could allow Flick to follow in the footsteps of Cruyff, Guardiola and Vilanova by lifting La Liga without kicking a ball.