At present, the Catalans lead Los Blancos by four points, with third-placed Villarreal some 11 points further back.
LaLiga title to be won
The two LaLiga giants don't play each other until the fourth-last game of the season, and whilst the title might already be settled by then, it could even hinge on the outcome of that game at Camp Nou.
Much will depend on how either club fares over the next few weeks, with both involved in Champions League quarter-finals as a minimum, over and above their domestic assignments.
Goals win games, of course, and the strikers from either side will be looked to in order to provide those game-winning moments.
One player from each side might even be playing their final few games if agreements can't soon be reached on terms.
Barcelona not convinced by Rashford?
Marcus Rashford has made it crystal clear that he wants to stay at Barcelona, and he's certainly done the business since making his loan move from Man Utd.
The England international has 10 goals and 10 assists in 39 games in all competitions. However, he hasn't played 90 minutes for the Catalans since December 16th against Guadalajara in the Copa del Rey.
In fact, since the last time Barca met Madrid, a game in which Rashford did play the entire game, he's only made one other 90-minute appearance, against Real Betis.
With Barcelona seemingly wishing to either try and drive down his more-than-reasonable reported transfer fee of €30m/£25.9m, or extend his loan period, that would suggest that the club either don't have the funds or aren't 100% convinced by the player.
Poor conversion rate
A shot accuracy of 56.4% in LaLiga is a fine return, but Rashford has certainly let himself down in terms of his conversion rate; just 6.2% in the Spanish top-flight.
Though he's hit the woodwork four times in all competitions, he's also missed 14 big chances out of a total of 18, and that's another area which requires clear improvement.
An 84% pass completion in the league is decent enough for a winger, and this rose to 87.6% in the Copa del Rey.
62 ball recoveries and a 42.4% duel success in the league are also evidence of a player doing his best to impress in the time he has on the pitch.
The question is whether that's enough for the board to part with their hard-earned.
Vini Jr. not interested in leaving Madrid
Over in Madrid, Vini Jr. has made it known that he's "only thinking about Real Madrid and staying there for a long time."
The 25-year-old Brazilian has certainly found his form over the past couple of months, scoring 11 goals and providing two assists in his last 14 matches.
When he's on song, there's no finer sight in world football. The ease with which he can beat a direct opponent is a joy to watch.
However, the histrionics and controversy that seem to follow him around on a weekly basis have often been at odds with the image that the club want to project.
Ballon d'Or strop
It shouldn't be forgotten either that after coming so close to winning the Ballon d'Or, only to lose out to Rodri, the strop that he (and Real) subsequently had could almost be said to have demeaned everything they profess to stand for.
Can such a storied institution really overlook the consistently antagonistic behaviour of the player, simply because of his goal return?
With a year left on his current contract, this summer would appear to be a make-or-break scenario, but all indications point to Los Blancos wanting to retain Vini's services.
Now that Alvaro Arbeloa has taken over the hot seat from Xabi Alonso, the player seems much more content, too.
Whilst the Spaniard was in charge, there appeared to be a very real possibility that the Brazilian would leave of his own accord, though this seems to be furthest from his mind at present.
Most total goals contributions at Real
Since he joined the club as an 18-year-old back in 2018, Vini has gone on to score 119 goals and provide 82 assists from his position out on the left.
In the same time frame, only centre-forward Karim Benzema - 161 goals, 29 assists - has more goals, though slightly fewer total goal contributions.
107 fast breaks made is more than double his nearest rival in this regard (Kylian Mbappe 46), a shot accuracy of 58.1% is one of the best in the team, though, like Rashford, he'll need to improve his conversion rate of 13.8%, which puts him behind the likes of Jude Bellingham and others.
A pass completion of 81.3% sounds more than acceptable, until you realise that it's one of the lowest in the squad out of every player that's been part of the first team over the last eight seasons.
Glory awaits...
Vini at least redeems himself with a work rate that often goes unnoticed.
His 4,178 attempted one-on-one duels are by far the best output, with Casemiro's 2,446 being the second-highest.
Given he's still only 25, and with his best years as a player still expected to be ahead of him, it makes sense for Real to want to tie him down for the foreseeable future.
Will either he or Rashford fire their clubs to glory this season, though? Time will tell...
