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Quique Setien still optimistic about Barcelona’s title prospects

Barcelona head coach Quique Setien has said that his team have got ‘little margin for error’ following the 2-2 draw against Celta Vigo on the road on Saturday afternoon.

The Blaugrana went into the game behind leaders Real Madrid on the head-to-head record and they needed a victory to keep the pressure on their fierce rivals in the title pursuit.

The Catalan giants appeared in a good position to do so with a 1-0 lead at the interval following Luis Suarez’s first goal since his recovery from a long-term knee injury.

Fyodor Smolov pegged them back within minutes of the restart with the equaliser, but Suarez ensured that the Blaugrana were back ahead in the 67th minute of the contest.

Iago Aspas has been the nemesis for the Blaugrana in the past with six goals from his 10 meetings and he denied them a much-needed victory by levelling the scores, two minutes from time.

Despite dominating with two-thirds of the possession, the La Liga holders were able to find the target with only two of their 19 shots over the course of the entire game at the Balaidos stadium.

With the result, they have returned to the top of the standings ahead of Los Blancos, but they need help from elsewhere such that they can retain the league title for the third-straight year.

Speaking after the game, Setien said (via Goal.com): “We’ve got little margin for error now and, in theory, we have to win all our games and hope our rival slips up. We’ll try to keep picking up maximum points.”

As things stand, the Blaugrana need Zinedine Zidane’s side to drop a minimum of three points over the next seven matches or else, they will have to settle for the runner-up position.

Real Madrid can reclaim the top spot when they visit Espanyol in their game in hand tonight. The Bernabeu outfit should be favourites to register a win against the bottom club, who are eight points adrift of safety.

Meanwhile, Barcelona’s next game comes against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou on Tuesday night. The encounter should test their credentials with Diego Simeone’s team in good form with four straight victories.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

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