FC Barcelona lost their fifth league game of the season against Valencia on Sunday with a 2-1 score. However, defender Gerard Pique and midfielder Ivan Rakitic remains confident that they will lift the La Liga trophy at the end of the season.
The Catalan club remained in first place at the league table but Atletico Madrid is leveled on points. On the other hand, Real Madrid is just a point behind with five more games remaining in the season.
The La Liga title race just opened up after Barcelona's second-straight league lost as they were also defeated 1-0 by Real Sociedad last week. It is their fourth loss in the last five matches in all competitions.
Barcelona lost to Madrid in the latest "El Clasico" on April 2 and was surprisingly eliminated from the Champions League after a 3-2 aggregate loss to Atletico. However, if there was a good thing that came from their defeat, it's Lionel Messi scoring his 500th total career goals for Barca and Argentina.
Nonetheless, they have to win all of their remaining league games to secure their 24th La Liga trophy in club history. Their schedule is relatively easy as they will face Deportivo, Sporting de Gijon, Real Betis, Espanyol and Granada to end the season.
In the 2-1 loss to Valencia, Rakitic scored an own goal but called their opponent's win as luck. He called on his teammates to stay positive and together as they head towards the final weeks of the campaign.
"The luck ended up favoring Valencia. The desire was there, but the ball simply didn't want to go in. We are sorry for this loss but we have to stay together in order to win [La Liga]," the Croatian told Marca.
As for Pique, who had the chance to tie the game in the final minutes, he said that they are doing good psychologically speaking and remains confident in winning five out of their last five La Liga fixtures.
"I am convinced we are going to take it," Pique said via ESPN.
The only hardware remaining for Barcelona to win this season is the Copa del Rey and the La Liga. They will be facing Sevila in the Copa del Rey final on May 22 to be held at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.
Barcelona's next game will see them visit Estadio Riazor on Wednesday and face Deportivo. In their first meeting of the season last December 11, Deportivo managed to draw 2-2 at Camp Nou.
Here are the highlights of the 2-1 Valencia win over Barcelona on Sunday.