Title race far from over - Guardiola

Posted Monday, November 28, 2011 by Supersport.com

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola insisted that his team are not yet out of the title race, despite falling six points adrift of Real Madrid in the wake of their shock defeat to Getafe on Saturday.

"The league is not over. There is still a long way to go," he said after a Juan Valera goal midway through the second half condemned Barcelona to a first defeat in any competition this season.

"We are competing against a great rival and you don't get many opportunities to slip up, but we will recover from this and move on."

The Catalans now have two more league games, at home to Rayo Vallecano and Levante, before travelling to Real Madrid for the first Clasico of the season on December 10.

"It is a shame to find ourselves so far behind the leaders, but this is not over," striker David Villa told Barca TV.

"Soon we will come up against them (Real Madrid) and we are quite capable of beating them so that is what we need to be thinking about."

Meanwhile, defender Gerard Pique was quoted in sports daily Marca as saying, "the table shows that they (Madrid) are better than us just now."

"But I would ask the supporters to have faith in us, this is not finished.

"We will go to the Bernabeu and try to dominate possession, as we always have done," he added.