‘Cake prepared’ as Real aim to hit wounded Barca fatally

The last chance saloon has opened its doors early for Barcelona as they travel to the capital on Sunday aiming to hold off Real Madrid's LaLiga title run in a desperate effort to stay alive in the race for the only remaining major silverware they can win. 

As it stands, Real top LaLiga on 78 points and a win against their second-placed archrivals would give them an 11-point lead with only six games left.

It had been a tough week for Barca fans as their side succumbed to a painful exit from the Champions League's quarter-finals at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, a day before Real progressed in the competition's semi-finals with a dramatic shootout win at holders Manchester City.

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said his team could strike a killer blow in the title race.

"It's a great chance for us to get closer to winning La Liga, but we know it's hard because Barcelona are a very competitive side... it will be the usual Clasico, a hard-fought, equal game," said the Italian in a presser yesterday.

Madrid are aiming to win a league and Champions League double for the fifth time in their history.

"The cake is prepared and we have to put the cherry on top this month," said Ancelotti, who has led Real to three consecutive Clasico wins, including a 4-1 thrashing of Barca in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals in January and a 2-1 comeback away win in LaLiga in October, with a brilliant Jude Bellingham scoring twice.

Those tough losses helped to add pressure on Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez, who announced in February that he was stepping down at the end of a difficult season.

Xavi said he was not throwing in the towel in La Liga despite Madrid's significant advantage.

"For us it's the most important game of the season, we have to win to put pressure on the leaders," Xavi said in Saturday's press conference.

A Barca victory could help the Catalans hang on for a couple of more rounds of the league campaign but another loss would likely mean last orders being served for the season.