Barcelona are back in the title race, Pique says to rivals

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has warned rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid that the Blaugrana are back in the La Liga title race.

Barcelona beat Sevilla 2-0 on Saturday, courtesy of goals from Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi to move into second place, two points behind Atletico Madrid who have two games in hand.

“The league is on, of course it is. Teams have come back from worse situations in the past and the team, despite those two games recently have done well in 2021. We can be confident,” Pique said after the match.

“Sevilla, at their ground, haven’t had a shot on goal against us or even created a clear chance. It’s not the ideal situation, sure, but I have faith in the team.”

Barca will play Sevilla again in the Copa Del Rey on Wednesday having lost the first leg 2-0 and Koeman isn’t ruling out a chance of a turn around.

“Of course we believe we can turn it around, but it will be a very different game,” Koeman said. “The first thing is to show ambition. If we produce a complete performance, we have a chance.”

Barcelona had three players taken off due to knocks and as a precaution in the game, Gerard Pique, Pedri and Ronald Araujo. Koeman would be hoping they are not anything serious.

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