Barca aim to finish on a high

Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola said his side are focused on securing the La Liga title with a victory over Levante on Wednesday.

Barca will be crowned champions if Real Madrid fail to beat Getafe on Tuesday, but at worst for Guardiola’s side, a win for Real means Barcelona only need to draw against the 10th-placed outfit to secure their third straight league title.

The 40-year-old manager was weary of Levante’s strong form at their Estadio Ciudad de Valencia home, and Guardiola was not writing off their opponents’ chances, nor was he assuming Real will hand them the title prior to kick off.

“We are trying to prepare well for the Levante match. We could have won (the title) before because of other results, but that hasn’t been the case,” he said.

“We are focused on tomorrow’s game against a team who haven’t lost at home in three months – eight wins and two draws.”

“They are almost safe, have a limited budget but have been excellent. If they can save themselves with three games to go, then it will be another excellent season.”

“They are very strong defensively and it is hard to have chances against them, and we will have to do well. It (the title) seems won, but it isn’t yet.”

Guardiola said he did not know the secret behind securing a league title, stating that each of their past two triumphs were not sealed in easy fashion.

“I don’t know. It always seems difficult. In the first year we had to go to the Bernabeu and win, and then in the second we had a lot of difficulties. This year is fresher, but it has always been hard to win the league,” he said.

“Anticipating things in sport always teaches you the lesson that you can’t rely on anything. We can’t deny that we are close, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves.”

“I think we have to concentrate on Levante, because we can’t control what happens in the Madrid-Getafe game.”