The situation is practically identical, except for the aggravating factor that the next matchday is, this time, a Clasico. And what a stage that is. If Barcelona takes all three points on Saturday against Osasuna, Real Madrid will arrive at the RCDE Stadium knowing it will definitely lose the league title to the Blaugrana if Espanyol draws or wins.

That painful day, 13 years ago, ended with Barcelona celebrating the title while Madrid went home with nothing. This Sunday, history could repeat itself.

Because on May 11, 2013, the same scenario already played out, believe it or not. And to make matters worse, now Espanyol desperately needs points to secure survival, unlike that Espanyol side that had mathematically guaranteed it three matchdays earlier by beating Getafe (0-2), in a turbulent season that included a coaching change from Mauricio Pochettino to Javier Aguirre. A lot was going on behind the scenes back then, too.

It was a 1-1 draw that condemned Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid to handing the title to Tito Vilanova's Barcelona early, which would end up with 100 points. That was matchday 35, one week later than now.

Alvaro Arbeloa was on that squad, although he was not even called up due to back pain that arose after his red card a month earlier in the Champions League quarterfinals against Galatasaray. Sometimes football writes these strange coincidences.

After a premature injury to Raphael Varane, who was replaced by Xabi Alonso, Christian Stuani scored for Espanyol against Diego Lopez from a corner kick assisted by Sergio Garcia in the 22nd minute. Then Gonzalo Higuain equalized, also from a corner, in the 57th minute.

Neither a goal disallowed for Hector Moreno due to a questionable previous foul, nor the second-half introductions of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, nor Victor Sanchez's red card changed the draw. The score simply would not budge.

And this cannot be called an isolated case or a coincidence. Quite the opposite. Just look at the recent history of Espanyol-Real Madrid at the RCDE Stadium. For example, last season Espanyol won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Carlos Romero. And in the last six meetings, each side has three wins. So nobody can say they didn't see this coming.

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