Barcelona defender Sergi Roberto has fired a La Liga title warning to rivals Atletico Madrid ahead of the second half of the season.
Roberto returned to action after a two month injury lay off from Ronald Koeman’s side, as the Catalan giants secured a crucial 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao.
That result moves the Catalans up above Real Madrid into second place in the table with a ten point gap behind current leaders Atletico.
However, despite the significant points barrier between the two sides, Spanish international Roberto believes Barcelona can chase down Diego Simeone’s high flyers.
“We started the season in an irregular way, but we did not deserve to lose certain games,” he told an interview with Mundo Deportivo.
“It was important to continue on the good streak with this win, to put pressure on Atlético, which is everything.
“If we continue as we are doing we have a chance to keep pressure on them but Atletico is going at a rate where they could reach 100 points.”
Barcelona’s win over Athletic Bilbao is a fifth successive league win for Koeman across the back end of 2020 and the start of 2021.
They now face a crucial run of La Liga games in February as they aim to challenge Atletico with a trip to Real Betis followed by home games against Alaves, Cadiz and Elche before the end of the month.
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