Barcelona will have to wait for another one week to grab the title after they scored a late goal to enter the 2-2 draw at Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Saturday.
If Barca won and second-placed Real Madrid at city neighbors Atletico lost in the later kickoff (1800 GMT), it would have given the leaders an indisputable 16-point benefit over their arch rivals with five matches yet to play. Now it is evident that Real possesses an option to reduce the gap to 11 points. They are missing injured top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo for the tour to the Calderon.
Athletic could not win a single match in six La Liga games against Barca at their San Mames stadium. Amazingly they led at 27th-minute when Aritz Aduriz crossed for Markel Susaeta to conclude from a close range.Barcelona struggled for an equalizer but was lucky enough not to lag behind by 2-0 as soon as Susaeta kicked against the crossbar 10 minutes into the second half.
The Catalans rediscovered their cutting edge when Argentine forward Lionel Messi, who missed Barcelona's last three La Liga matches due to a hamstring injury, joined them at the correct moment. The World Player of the Year fiercely sneaked past four defenders to equalize in the 67th minute while Alexis Sanchez, who previously struck the post, made it 2-1 goals after two minutes. Messi's 44th goal in 33 league matches this season, placed another record as it shifted his count away from home to 24--one more compared to the previous best set by Ronaldo during the last term. Barcelona has also made their own La Liga record equivalent by scoring in 26 successive away matches. They seem to have bagged another three points safely before Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera triggered a low shot into the corner of the net on 90 minutes to excite the home fans on a wet and cold evening in the Basque Country.
Barcelona may haul another opportunity to win the title next weekend when they play at home against Real Betis on Sunday following Real have hosted Real Valladolid on Saturday.
Celta Vigo boosted their possibility of avoiding relegation when they won 1-0 at Levante to jump out of the danger zone in Saturday's earlier kickoff.
