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A first La Liga title since 2019 is getting closer for Barcelona after Xavi's men edged past Atletico Madrid 1-0 in an ill-tempered affair at Camp Nou on Sunday to stay 11 points clear of Real Madrid in second with eight games to go.

Los Blancos have been crowned Spanish champions in two of the last three seasons with Diego Simeone's side being the exception back in 2021 but the Catalan giants are closer than ever to their 27th La Liga title having beaten both Real and Atleti in their last five league outings.

Ferran Torres swept home the winning goal just before halftime while Robert Lewandowski missed a golden late opportunity for a second when he shot wide with Raphinha open, and Antoine Griezmann was denied an opening strike inside of 60 seconds by Marc-Andre ter Stegen's crossbar.

Although Barca suffered back-to-back goalless draws against Girona and Getafe earlier this month, beating Atleti was a critical result that should have put any potential Madrid-based fightback to bed given that it is fairly plain sailing for the Blaugrana from here.

A staggering seven of eight Atleti bookings came after the 80th minute as tempers flared towards the end and Sergio Reguilon was arguably fortunate to not have been sent off for his late foul on Raphinha in a show of frustration which suggested that Atleti knew that this was their chance.

Real Betis, Real Sociedad and possibly Osasuna could make life hard for Barca but all three games are at home and it is difficult to imagine three home losses when Xavi's men are yet to taste defeat on their home turf all season in La Liga.

Instead, Real and Atleti now need the Catalans to drop points via inefficient finishing or Ter Stegen being unable to get in front of everything thrown his way as was the case here with the German shot-stopper equaling Claudio Bravo's all-time club record of 23 La Liga clean sheets in a season.

Games away at Rayo Vallecano, Espanyol in the Catalan derby, Real Valladolid and Celta Vigo might throw up one or two tricky obstacles for Barca on the road but it is unlikely to be enough to bring Real and particularly Atleti back into it now.

This game was never really about Simeone's troops reeling Barca in for the title -- it was more about keeping the pressure on Real who remain in UEFA Champions League contention during a season where their La Liga form has underwhelmed and this makes that harder to do with a five-point gap.

Consistency is now key for Xavi and his group for these remaining eight games and we are talking about a Barca side that has only lost twice all campaign needing to suddenly lose all form and go into freefall -- that is unlikely to happen so the countdown can now begin.

Assuming that the current gap remains more or less the same, Barca can potentially look to secure the title against local rivals Espanyol or possibly Real Sociedad with Real Valladolid another possible date to see Xavi celebrating his first La Liga title as boss since his last as a player back in 2015.