TO paraphrase John Cleese’s character in the film Clockwise, it’s the hope that ultimately hurts more than the despair.
A glimmer of optimism is now dangling in front of some of the chasing pack in Spain and Germany following the weekend’s results, something that could well be dashed away as quickly as it arrived.
Barcelona, who looked miles off the pace not so long ago, now sit in third place in La Liga, just four points off the top.
Ronald Koeman’s side extended the “New Year, new you” theme by thrashing Granada 4-0 to stretch their undefeated run to eight matches. Antoine Griezmann and the evergreen Lionel Messi both netted doubles.
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Their unlikely championship cause was aided by a stumble by Real Madrid who, in terrible weather conditions, could only draw 0-0 at Osasuna.
Leaders Atletico have similarly endured a week to forget so far. On the back of being knocked out of the Spanish Cup by third tier Cornella, their return to league action was delayed after heavy snow in the Spanish capital saw their match with Bilbao postponed. They now have three games in hand and will try to play one of those against Sevilla tonight.
Should they win them all, they will stretch their advantage over city rivals Real to 10 points while the gap to Barca will stand at 13, perhaps tempering the creeping optimism at those two clubs.
From a parochial perspective, there was an interesting development as Jordan Holsgrove became the youngest Scot to ever play in La Liga and only the sixth overall when he appeared as a late substitute for Celta Vigo on Friday night.
The Scotland under-21 cap from Edinburgh had come off the bench in midweek to score against Ibiza in the Spanish Cup.
In Germany, Borussia Dortmund continue to torment their supporters by thrashing title rivals RB Leipzig 3-1 away from home thanks to a double from Erling Braut Haaland and another from Jadon Sancho.
That completed a good weekend for the side from the Ruhrgebiet after Bayern Munich, incredibly, threw away a 2-0 lead at Borussia Mönchengladbach to lose 3-2 on Friday night, only their second loss of the season.
With third-placed Bayer Leverkusen only drawing, it gives Dortmund fresh optimism about a late title push, something that will quickly evaporate when they, almost inevitably, lose at home to a relegation contender in the coming weeks.
Talking of which, Dortmund’s local rivals Schalke savoured a Bundesliga win for the first time in a year thanks to a hat-trick from American Matthew Hoppe to move off the bottom of the table.
In Serie A, Milan showed there was no lasting damage caused by the end of their undefeated record as they returned to winning ways. The league leaders’ midweek defeat at home to Juventus had some questioning their character but they rebounded in style by making light work of Torino.
The rossoneri’s cause was helped by the two sides closest to them in the table – Inter and Roma – sharing the spoils, leaving Milan to preside over a three-point lead.
Juventus remain an outside bet at best to clinch a tenth successive title but stayed in the hunt with a 3-1 win over Sassuolo that included goals from Aaron Ramsey and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Aaron Hickey returned to the Bologna starting line-up but the Scot couldn’t prevent his side from slipping to a 2-0 defeat to Genoa.
In France there was a first win for new PSG boss Maurcio Pochettino as his side eased to a 3-0 victory over Brest, with on-loan Everton forward Moise Kean scoring for a third game in succession.
With leaders Lyon drawing at Rennes, only one point now separates the top three, with Lille still in contention following their 1-0 victory at Nimes.
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