Dani Alves has reflected that Barcelona cannot afford to take lightly their lead over Real Madrid, because of Atletico Madrid’s presence in second.
Madrid are 16 points behind Barca this season, whilst Atletico split the two traditional title rivals sat in second, nine points adrift of the Catalans.
“There is a lot of talk of Madrid, but our rivals is Atletico, who are going well in second place in the League,” commented the Brazilian.
“We shouldn’t look to the team in third place because there’s a team in second, they are closer and if we don’t pay attention they could surprise us.”
Alves conceded that he and his teammates were below par in Week 22, dropping two points in a draw at Valencia.
“We were not on form today, and when you can’t win you must at least get a point. Due to the circumstances we should be happy to take the point.
“The effort the other day [in Madrid] was tremendous and we played here against an uncomfortable rival and on a slow pitch. Today we were not good, but when you don’t win you must at least get a draw.
“Even so, Barcelona controlled certain parts of the match, despite Valencia’s pressure.”
