Their condition is a little outside of the actual predictions but indeed this is also a bit natural because some of their core players have not been in the squad for the last few matches.
The loss of Raphinha and Dembele clearly bothered me a bit, apart from that the conditions in which the absence of Pedri and De Jong also became a bit of a gap that they had not been able to cover which made it a bit difficult for Lewandowski to score goals.
Yep. No one predicted that Barcelona will get 2 draws in the last 2 matches against small teams.
Sure, some players got injured but there were still enough players to beat Girona or Getafe if we consider the squad quality.
It was true that Dembele, Pedri, De Jong, Sergi Roberto got injured but Raphinha still could play against Girona and Getafe at that time. There was no problem with Raphinha's fitness. However, there were Busquets, Kessie, and Gavi who can play at that time. Barcelona actually still dominated the ball possessions and made many assists, the problem was no accuracy on the finishing. I assume the problem is on the strikers' shooting accuracy, not on the capacity of Barcelona midfielders.
The UCL and Copa Del Rey are now the focus of Real Madrid and they seem to have let go of their focus on La Liga matches and this is very visible when in a few weeks they have been inconsistent and Don Carlo Ancelotti has rotated many players in the remaining La Liga matches.
on the UCL stage Real Madrid's mentality is very good and I don't think that they are not in the favor if they face Man City in the semifinals later.
It makes sense if Real Madrid is more focused on Copa Del Rey and UCL now. In these competitions, the chances to win the titles are higher than winning La Liga title. So, they seem not playing with 100% of their capability in La Liga matches. We can't blame them if they prefer to use substitution players in La Liga matches. Regarding Real Madrid players' mentality in UCL, no one doubts it! They always have a great mentality in UCL and they have big luck in UCL matches. So, Real Madrid is the favorite to win UCL title.