Barcelona get chance to extend La Liga lead

Barcelona and Real Madrid return to La Liga action on Sunday harbouring dreams of progress in the Uefa Champions. Real were paired with the German side Wolfsburg for their quarter-final while Barcelona were handed a much tougher assignment. They will take on La Liga title rivals Atletico Madrid next month.

Luis Enrique's Barcelona have a chance to go 11 points clear at the top of La Liga. Reuters/Carl Recine

Wolfsburg are in the last eight for the first time after seeing off Ghent in the last 16. Real, who won the trophy in 2014, disposed of Roma 4-0 on aggregate.

At the moment Barcelona are eight points ahead of second placed Atletico with nine games remaining. They have a tricky trip to fourth placed Villareal. Marcelino Garcia Tora's men have 53 points - five more than Sevilla who play at Real.

But both Barca and Real will go into the clashes buoyed by Atletico’s surprise 2-1 defeat at Sporting Gijon on Saturday night. Barca will have the chance to increase their lead to 11 points over Diego Simeone’s men while Real have a chance to close to within one point of their city rivals.

Should Barcelona slip up, it will give a glimmer of hope to Real, who - if they win - will be nine points behind the La Liga pacestters. Given the relentlessness of Barcelona in the domestic championship, the Champions League remains Real's most realistic chance of silverware. Even then there are a plethora of imponderables, not least the quality of the teams reamining in the competition.

Bayern Munich will be buoyed after coming from the brink of elimination to get past the Italian champions Juventus and the French champions Paris St Germain - with the 2016 title already won - can concentrate their vast resources on the Champions League.

Plaudits rained down on the Barca front three of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez after their goals and assists in the 3-1 victory over Arsenal on Wednesday night at the Camp Nou. The south American troika have more than 100 goals between them this season in all competitions.

Villareal have the third meanest defence in La Liga behind Atletico and Barcelona so breaching it will not be simple. However Barcelona coach Luis Enrique clearly had an eye on Sunday's game against Villareal during the match against Arsenal.

Seven minutes after Luis Suarez had made it 2-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate, Enrique replaced skipper Andres Iniesta with Sergi Roberto. And five minutes after that Ivan Rakitic was brought off and replaced with Arda Turan

It was a wise ploy to remove the midfield maestros.

Iniesta's importance to Barcelona is fabled but it is the emergence of Rakitic - a replacement for the previous skipper Xavi Hernandez - that has helped Barcelona to another dimension. He has come in with Suarez and Neymar and his ability to hit quick forward passes has transformed their incisiveness.

"Rakitic is a more direct player than Xavi," said Jonathan Wilson, editor of the football magazine The Blizzard and author of several books on football tactics. "Rakitic looks for that forward pass more instinctively than Xavi and, yes, that risks losing possession. But he's happy to take that risk in a way that perhaps Xavi wasn't."

Wilson added: "That has had an effect on how Barcelona play. That front three of Messi, Neymar and Suarez are comfortable carrying the ball at their feet, so Barca have also become this dribbling team. You think of them as masters of the pass - they still are - but it's become far more now about getting the ball to the front three and see what they do. Rakitic, with his ability to play those quick 30- or 40-metre passes, is key to that."

Following his side's 3-1 loss on Wednesday night, the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, said Messi, Suarez and Neymar had the ability to transform the normal into art. Three more points will take them a step nearer to what is becoming normal - another Spanish title.