Real Madrid is six points behind Barcelona in the EA Sports LaLiga table before the 'Clásico' on Sunday 9:00 p.m., the largest gap between both rivals in the first nine days of the last fourteen seasons. This difference, however, does not guarantee that the team that leads at the beginning of the tenth round will end up at the top of the championship, as has happened on several occasions in the recent history of Spanish football.
The record for the best start to a season in LaLiga is shared by Real Madrid and Barcelona, both with ten wins in their first nine games in the 1968-1969 season. Barcelona equaled this record in the 2013-2014 season, when they achieved eight wins in their first eight games. Since then, in the fourteen seasons that have been played, Barcelona has led the table on eight occasions, Real Madrid on five and they have been tied on one occasion. The margin of six points that separates the two teams on matchday nine is the largest recorded in this period, surpassing the previous record of five points reached in the 2017-2018 season.
Historically, the team that leads before the tenth round usually also ends up at the top of the championship. In eight of the fourteen seasons analyzed, the leader between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the beginning of the tenth round finished at the top of the table. However, there are exceptions: in 2013-2014, Atlético de Madrid won the title with 90 points, leaving the whites and culés with 87. In the 2019-2020 season, during the pandemic, Barcelona had a one-point advantage over Real Madrid at the end of the ninth matchday, but the white team was crowned champion with 87 points compared to the rival's 82. In the 2022-2023 and 2025-2026 campaigns, Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively led the table on the tenth round, but finished in second position with 88 and 94 points, while Atlético and Barcelona took the titles with 78 and 86 points.
If Real Madrid suffers a defeat at the Camp Nou, they will lose the shared record for the best historical league start and will be nine points behind Barcelona with 28 games remaining. Although he still has room to maneuver, the gap will be difficult to overcome and will put Mourinho's team under pressure to close the season with the league goal. The next 'Clásico' will be decisive not only for the score, but also for the position in the table and the morale of both teams in the race for the title.