Barcelona welcome Sevilla to Camp Nou on Sunday night with coach Xavi hoping his side can extend their "extraordinary" form of the first half of the season into the second.
The Catalans lead reigning champions Real Madrid by five points La Liga having reached the milestone of 50 points at the halfway stage of the season.
Only two sides have reached 100 points in the Spanish league's history, Real Madrid in the 2011/12 season and Barcelona the following year.
It is the fifth time Barcelona have earned that many points at this point of a campaign and four times they went on to lift the title.
"I don't like drawing conclusions halfway through the season, everything can still be turned on its head," Xavi said after an impressive midweek win at Real Betis.
"We have to match this first half. We are on a good path, but there are 19 more games to go — the numbers [so far] are extraordinary."
Barca's impressive first half of the campaign has been built on a watertight defence, conceding just seven goals all season in the top flight, with new arrivals Jules Kounde and Andreas Christensen key.
Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has returned to his best form too, making the Catalans Europe's meanest defence across the top five leagues.
By contrast opponents Sevilla are having their worst season for some time, although the roots of revival under Jorge Sampaoli are finally growing.
The Andalusians, 13th, have won three of their past four league games, after only two victories in their first 15.
Without injured winger Ousmane Dembele, Barca still earned a 2-1 win at Real Betis to hit 50 points.
Dembele's replacement, Raphinha, netted the opening goal, after a clever quickly-taken free-kick by Frenkie de Jong.
Xavi said the goal demonstrated his team was mentally ready to succeed this season.
"It's about attitude, competitiveness, desire, faith, our hopes are huge," added the coach.
"We have confidence and the morale to achieve success."
The Blaugrana are boosted by Robert Lewandowski's return from suspension, with the Polish forward scoring his 14th league goal of the season against Betis.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
FIXTURES
December 28
Stan Wawrinka v Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Milos Raonic v Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm
December 29 - semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Stan Wawrinka / Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Milos Raonic / Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm
December 30
3rd/4th place play-off, 5pm
Final, 7pm
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
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Overall head-to-head
Federer 6-1 Cilic
Head-to-head at Wimbledon
Federer 1-0 Cilic
Grand Slams titles
Federer 18-1 Cilic
Best Wimbledon performance
Federer: Winner (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012)
Cilic: Final (2017*)
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