For Barcelona, the magic number is three. The Catalans are just three wins away from securing the La Liga title this season and have seven games to do it.
Will Lionel Messi play? Will Barcelona look past Levante with a Champions League date against Bayern Munich on the horizon, or will Levante be yet another victim on the Catalans' march to a league title?
You may think a league title is all but wrapped up for the Catalans, and they'll be more focused on this week's Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich. But Andres Iniesta disputed that notion.
Barca, currently 13 points clear of Madrid in the table, need just three wins from their last seven games to regain the title which Jose Mourinho's side won last year.
The blaugrana playmaker said finishing that job would give him more satisfaction than any possible European success.
"I have always said it, the league title is the most important for me," Iniesta said. "It is the one you get most pleasure from because it is the result of your daily work, each week, for a full year. But of course the Champions League has its prestige, and a different attraction."
There is absolutely no reason for Barca to play Lionel Messi in this game with Bayern Munich looming, which means we should see Cesc Fabregas in the false nine role atop the Barcelona attack.
It's really not fair that Barca can sit Messi and have a player as talented as Fabregas to take his place. With 12 goals and 10 assists in 41 appearances for Barca, the ex-Arsenal man is versatile enough to play several positions, will look to involve his teammates rather than selfishly seeking his own shot and is more than capable of finding the back of the net himself.
Remember when Messi missed the game against Mallorca, and Fabregas scored three goals and added an assist in his stead. He'll be tasked with the same job again against Levante.
Poor Levante. The Spanish side has scored just 35 goals in league play while allowing 50, and they get a Barcelona team motivated to close out the league title and needing just three wins to do so. Plus, when these teams met in November, Barcelona won 4-0.
What this all means is that if Levante is to have any chance of securing even a draw in this contest, keeper Gustavo Munua is going to need one of his finest performances. Barcelona is going to control possession but, without Messi, might struggle to score.
Messi or no Messi, Barcelona is at home, three wins away from a league title and facing a Levante side they dominated earlier in the year. This one is a no-brainer, folks.
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