Suarez said that Barca’s fans had been warned that the team would not stroll to the La Liga title, but he was confident the team would now do enough over the final four games to hold off Atletico and Real and lift the trophy.
Advertisement
“Against Valencia we had a lot of chances and we only scored one goal”.
“We are human and it hurts when you lose, but we got the win and we were superior so we feel more relaxed now”.
The ESPN FC team discuss Barcelona’s 8-0 drubbing of Deportivo La Coruna as they snap a three-match losing streak.
This took Suarez past the 47 goals in 49 games which Ronaldo managed when he spent the 1996-97 season at the Camp Nou, and the former Liverpool player told reporters he was proud to have bettered one of the “footballing greats”.
Bartra also found the net late on after a strong solo run, while Neymar made it eight after yet another Suarez assist as Barcelona returned to winning ways in impressive fashion. There was carnage in the second half as Suarez set up Ivan Rakitic soon after the break and then latched onto a pass from Messi to claim his hat-trick.
Real Madrid stayed one point behind Barcelona and Atletico with four rounds to go after a 3-0 win over Villarreal. And that challenge is to retain the league title.
Suarez said he doubted that either Atletico or Real Madrid’s La Liga play would be affected by the strain of playing in the Champions League semifinals.
An own goal, however, from Grzegorz Krychowiak levelled the score before half-time and then Lopez snatched a dramatic three points for the home side with a cool finish in stoppage time at the end of the second half. “The most important thing is that our destiny is still in our hands and I am sure that the hard work that we are all doing will bear fruits”.
Elsewhere, Sporting Gijon came from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 and climb out of the relegation zone, while fellow strugglers Rayo Vallecano were denied victory at Malaga due to Federico Ricca’s injury time equaliser. That’s when Barcelona were in the midst of a 39-game unbeaten run, and now they’ll be without Gerard Pique looking to avoid their fourth straight loss.
Advertisement
“I’ll repeat what I’ve already said, we only depend on ourselves”, Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said. We lost two games in the first 30 and now three in a row, it is not normal.
