Dani Alves has labelled Real Madrid ‘lucky’, claiming that Barcelona could have challenged their rivals for the Spanish title if they had not struggled in the early stages of the season.
The Catalan giants beat Real Sociedad 1-0 on Thursday to move back into second place in LaLiga.
However, they still find themselves 15 points adrift of Real Madrid, and Alves has pointed to his side’s poor start to the campaign as the reason they are so far off the pace.
‘[Real Madrid] are lucky that we woke up so late that we couldn’t fight for the title,’ Alves told Barca TV, as quoted by Goal.
‘Now we have to think about another objective.’
Barcelona only won four of their opening 11 league games this term, leading to Ronald Koeman losing his job in late October.
They have had an upturn in results in recent months, with Xavi replacing Koeman, and Alves playing his part in their resurgence since he rejoined the club in January.
After being eliminated from the Champions League before Christmas, Barcelona have returned to form in 2022, losing just once in Spain’s top-flight since the turn of the year.
They capped their impressive turnaround by thrashing Real Madrid 4-0 at the Bernabeu last month, although this victory came too late to put any serious pressure on Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Los Blancos could wrap up their 35th league title before the end of April, while Barcelona will end the season trophyless after being knocked out of the Europa League by Eintracht Frankfurt at the quarter-finals stage.
They now look set to involved in a scrap for the runners-up spot in LaLiga in the final weeks of the season.
Barcelona currently find themselves level on points with Sevilla, and two points clear of Atletico Madrid, with a game in hand on both teams.