The La Liga is headed for a close finish, with the race for the title going down to the wire. Real Madrid and Barcelona are separated by one point on the La Liga standings with just one match to go. Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, are out of the title race after they lost to already relegated Levante last weekend.
With the upcoming fixtures being crucial to Madrid’s success in the Liga, rumours have emerged from the Granada dressing room that Los Blancos may offer the Granada-based club a financial incentive if they take a point off Barcelona.
Also read: Real Madrid top Forbes’ Most Valuable Teams list
Granada recently escaped relegation and goalkeeper Ivan Kelava told Goal.com, “Given the celebrations [for avoiding relegation] we haven’t trained well this week, but my teammates have told me it’s standard for an incentive to be given to players at other clubs”.
He added, “So maybe Real Madrid will offer us a bonus for stopping Barcelona”
It is suspected that teams which have nothing at stake but are playing in fixtures which affect the top of the Liga often recurrently accept such bonuses. The bonuses are called “maletines” which are supposedly suitcases stuffed with bank notes offered to secure desired results. Granada too have nothing at stake, having already secured safety from relegation.
Real Madrid play Deportivo La Coruna at the Riazor stadium while Barcelona will also play away to Granada. Barcelona lead rivals Real Madrid by just one point and will secure La Liga if they win against Granada.
If Granada manage to defeat Barcelona or hold them to a draw, it gives Real Madrid the chance to win the La Liga by defeating Deportivo.
Manager Zinedine Zidane had publicly conceded the title race to be over after the 1-0 defeat to Atletico in late February. However, the Madrid-based club was back in the race when Barcelona suffered a horrible run of form in April, where they gave up a 9 point lead in the Liga and were knocked out of Europe.
Real Madrid have qualified for the Champions League final after defeating Manchester City in the semifinals. The final, to be held in Milan will be a repeat of the 2014 final against their city rivals, Atletico Madrid.
The Los Blancos will be hoping for a similar result this time around as they had won that match in Lisbon by four goals to one.
