Ernesto Valverde has moved to play down Barcelona’s early lead in La Liga and believes five sides are in a title race.
The weekend’s results saw the Blaugrana retain their four-point lead over Valencia with Real Madrid a further four points behind, but the former Athletic Bilbao Coach insisted this was not ‘definitive’.
“These gaps are not definitive and it’s still very early,” Valverde told a press conference, as quoted by Diario AS.
“The natural title rivals are Real Madrid and Atletico but you can’t forget Valencia who are only four points behind us and Sevilla – it’s important to worry about all of them, but also to focus on ourselves.
“This is a tough league – we suffered at San Mames, Madrid losing at Girona, Atletico dropping points and Valencia winning narrowly at Alaves – every point matters.
“Each game is a big challenge and requires a lot of work and at some point, everybody will slip up and we have seen this already.
“Every win is important and should be appreciated.”