Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman is confident that the Catalans are definitely still in the running for league honours despite their inconsistent start and asserts that his side are mounting a serious challenge in the Liga title race – which will be put to the test on Saturday when Valencia visit the Camp Nou.
The Catalans have have been plagued by inconsistency so far, losing four times already in the La Liga, and currently sit six points off pacesetters Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad and Real Madrid.
The silver lining in the clouds for the Blaugrana is that no team is currently pulling away in a wide-open battle at the top as Barca are finally beginning to find their form and looked like being back to their best on Wednesday when they came from behind to beat Sociedad 2-1.
Relieved with the result, an optimistic Koeman believes they can mount a title challenge.
“Yes [we can], it’s in our hands and there’s a long way to go,” he said. “We played the best half we have all season, we were brilliant with the ball and we pressed hard.”
Lionel Messi, Pedri and Oscar Minguez suffered some knocks in the win but Koeman expects them to be fit for the weekend. Unfortunately, long-term absentees Gerard Pique, Ansu Fati and Sergi Roberto are still sidelined along with forward Ousmane Dembele, who has a hamstring issue.
Real – facing a crisis at the start of December after their defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League – have also been rebounded in the past fortnight and will seek to keep up their title charge when they visit Eibar on Sunday.
The current La Liga champions have won their last four games in all competitions, including the derby against Atletico last weekend, to move level on points at the top – despite having played two games more than their city rivals.