Hoping to Catch the End of the Liga Race? It May Be Too Late Don't look now, but the race for the Spanish league title most likely ended over the weekend after Barcelona lost at Osasuna on Saturday and Real Madrid beat 10-man Levante on Sunday behind Cristiano Ronaldo's sixth hat trick of the season. The two results gave Real Madrid, which has been the runner-up to Barcelona the past three seasons, a 10-point lead in the standings. Well past the halfway point in the season, it is highly unlikely Barcelona will be able to make up the gap. Don't expect an outside challenge, either; third-place Valencia is 8 points behind Barcelona, and its win Sunday was its first in the league in two months. "There are still a lot of games to go, a lot of points available and every game is more difficult than the last - we're playing for everything with every game," Real Madrid Manager José Mourinho said Sunday. Mathematically it's not over; there are still 39 points up for grabs. But 10 points gives you some margin for error so that if you lose a game it's not the end. Taking away its three most recent games against Barcelona (in which, it should be noted, Barcelona went 2-0-1), Madrid is unbeaten in all competitions since a Liga defeat at Levante on Sept. Barcelona, meanwhile, was burned again by a stumble away from home. It has only four league wins in 11 games away from the Camp Nou this season. Real Madrid, by comparison, is 10-1 at home and 9-1-1 on the road. "Of course this makes it more difficult, but these things happen," Barcelona Manager Pep Guardiola said Saturday of his team's chances of winning the league. "The reality is we trail by a notable amount," he added, "but we have to keep going until the end of the season." Whatever drama was lost in the league - the teams meet only once more, at the end of April in Barcelona - could be replaced tenfold in the coming weeks. With the league essentially decided, the clubs can now focus even more of their energy on the title each really craves: the Champions League. That tournament fires up again this week, when Barcelona visits Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday in the first leg of its Round of 16 matchup. Real Madrid travels to Moscow to play CSKA next week. The draws for the rounds after the quarterfinals are random, so it's possible the teams may not be finished with each other yet.