Karanka keen to keep competing

Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka concedes his side cannot win the La Liga crown, but insisted they will continue to fight for wins.

Speaking after Real’s 6-2 demolition of Sevilla, Karanka said his team – who sit five points behind league leaders Barcelona with three games remaining – will continue to push hard for wins.

Barca have four matches remaining, and play host to Espanyol on Sunday, but Real’s emphatic win means their fierce rivals will have to wait until at least next week before wrapping up a third successive La Liga crown.

Karanka was taking responsibility for his club’s media duties in the absence of Jose Mourinho, who was handed a five-match ban by UEFA on Friday following comments he made after Real’s 2-0 loss to Barca in their Champions League semi-final first leg on April 27.

“We will continue fighting and winning matches out of respect for everyone,” Karanka said.

“We need to pick up the pieces and learn from our mistakes heading into next season.”

“We cannot lose points in matches in which at first glance we are the superior team. Every point is important is such close league races.”

“The fact that we have played better on the road than at home in recent weeks is a fact. Looking at the schedule you see all these hard away matches, but we lost matches that we didn’t expect to lose.”

Real’s win on Saturday was powered by four goals from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who lifted his tally for the 2010-11 season to 46 goals in all competitions.