Skip to main content

Ernesto Valverde has insisted his Barcelona side still need to be wary of Real Madrid's threat in the title race after his side's 1-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday evening.

Having beaten their bitter rivals 3-0 on their own turf just three days prior, Barcelona headed into the game full of confidence and took the lead midway through the first half. 

fbl-liga-esp-real-madrid-barcelona-5c7b1839deb8e94405000001.jpg

Ivan Rakitic's delicate chip looped over Thibaut Courtois and into the back of the net, and the visitors went close to doubling their lead towards the end of the half with the Belgian managing to keep the score at 1-0.

Madrid came out for the second half with more attacking intent and went close on a number of occasions, but they couldn't find a way past the Barcelona defence as the Blaugrana edged to a 1-0 win -  their third El Clasico win of the season.

Speaking to Yahoo Sports after the game, Valverde was quick to dismiss claims that Real are out of the title race and insisted his side must watch out for those teams behind them in the La Liga table. He said: "There is a world ahead.

"Real Madrid are capable of winning many matches in a row, but there is also Atletico. We respect our opponents just as they respect us and it is absurd to start thinking about the league when there are so many games left.

"Last year we had more distance in the league and they were European champions, they are a candidate to make history in any capacity. We have been much better than the other day [Barca's 3-0 win in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final], we wanted to have control but the ball did not flow too much.

real-madrid-cf-v-fc-barcelona-la-liga-5c7b18577d311a2a81000001.jpg

"We had a good attitude, today we took a step forward and when we dominated we hurt them."

The win was a big step for Barcelona in their quest to complete the treble having progressed into the Copa Del Rey final on Wednesday night before opening up a 10 point gap over their nearest challengers in La Liga in Atletico Madrid.