Barca take long view on title race after defeat
Reuters - Sunday 27 November 2011, 15:02
Barcelona preferred to take
a long view on the La Liga title race on Sunday the day after
losing their first game of the season 1-0 at Getafe to slip six
points behind in-form leaders Real Madrid.
The European and Spanish champions, who have won three
consecutive league crowns, are in the unfamiliar position of
trailing their arch-rivals with two weeks to go until the first
league 'clasico' of the campaign at the Bernabeu.
The Madrid-based sports press made much of Real's advantage
with Marca and AS both trumpeting the new six-point gap on their
Sunday front pages.
"Many people would hand out the league trophy now and are
setting off rockets," Barca's Brazilian defender Dani Alves told
a news conference on Sunday.
"They don't hand out the cup now. Luckily for us there is
still a long way to go and one of the keys to this team is that
they never give up."
Real swept aside city rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1 on Saturday
for their 13th consecutive victory in all competitions, and Jose
Mourinho's team opened up a gap which could prove difficult to
bridge, especially if they were to be victorious on December 10.
Real and Barca, the world's two richest clubs by income,
have dominated La Liga the last couple of seasons with both
sides racking up over 90 points, leaving third-placed Valencia
more than 20 points behind in third.
With draws being called 'the new defeats' by local media,
Real, who have only lost once at surprise early pacesetters
Levante earlier in the campaign, would appear to hold a
psychological edge in the run up to the first 'clasico'.
"There is still a long way to go," Guardiola said on
Saturday. "We all know we are competing against a great rival
and have less room for more slip ups, but we will lift ourselves
and move forward again."
Barca's 27-game unbeaten run in competitive matches
stretched over six months, and they last suffered a defeat in
April last season, when they fell 2-1 at Real Sociedad in La
Liga.
They have a midweek league clash at home to promoted Rayo
Vallecano on Tuesday, a game rearranged because of their
participation in next month's Club World Cup, and then host
Levante next weekend, before returning to face their title
rivals.