Title challenge will still be difficult, says Guardiola

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is remaining cool on his side’s hopes of retaining their La Liga title.

Barca have managed to close to within eight points of league leaders Real Madrid after a weekend in which the Catalans cruised to a 2-0 win at Sevilla before Jose Mourinho’s side conceded a last-gasp equaliser to Santi Cazorla in a 1-1 draw with Malaga.

There are those believe that the title race is now very much back on – but Guardiola is refusing to get carried away.

“I’m delighted that the fans think we can make a comeback (in the Liga). I think it’s great,” Guardiola said.

“I haven’t changed my opinion in the past two days. It will be difficult (to catch Madrid). And the only thing we can control is ourselves; that’s what we need to focus on.”

Indeed, Guardiola is trying to guard against complacency ahead of his side’s La Liga meeting with Granada on Tuesday, particularly given Barca appeared to ease off after moving two goals up inside 30 minutes at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Saturday.

“The reality is that we have to compete tomorrow,” he said. “We have to play like we did in the first half hour against Sevilla.”

Guardiola has led Barcelona to 13 titles since succeeding Frank Rijkaard as coach in 2008.