Overview
- Real Madrid’s 1–1 draw with Girona left Barcelona nine points clear with seven games to play, putting a title clinch before the next Clásico within reach.
- If Barcelona seal the league before the Camp Nou meeting, Real Madrid could be asked to form a pasillo, the pre-match line where players applaud the new champions onto the pitch.
- Spanish reports note the gesture is optional and highly charged, with the last Camp Nou pasillo between the giants in 1988 and Zinedine Zidane refusing to do it in 2018.
- The Negreira affair has soured relations, as Real-linked outlet Defensa Central calls any guard of honour a scandal and the club pushes for a full probe and limits on referees tied to Enric Negreira.
- Barcelona says the Negreira payments were legitimate consultancy and urges due process, while focusing on securing the points that could force Madrid to confront the pasillo question.