Xavi determined to fight Real Madrid for La Liga title

Barcelona's head coach Xavi Hernandez is determined to fight with Real Madrid for the La Liga title following's his club's win against Las Palmas 1-0, courtesy of Raphinha’s 59th-minute header at the Estadi Olimpic Luis Companys on Saturday.

The Catalan club currently sits on the second position in the league with 67 points from 30 matches while Los Blancos occupy the first place with five more points than their arch-rivals in one less game played.

Ever since Xavi announced in January 2023 that he would quit as Barcelona’s head coach at the end of the season, the Bluagrana picked up form and are yet to lose a match as their last defeat coming against Villarreal on January 27.

“There are still two titles at stake for us this season and we want to continue playing well,” Xavi said as quoted by Marca.

“It’s a very important match (against Las Palmas) as we continue to fight for La Liga. We can still put pressure on Real Madrid and we can still fight for the league title.”

Barcelona will travel to Santiago Bernabeu on April 21 where they will face Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid in a potential title decider as a win inside the Spanish capital would put pressure on the 35-time league winners.

Remember, Real Madrid will host Athletic Club on Sunday in yet another important league match as Ancelotti’s men continue to fight for their record-extending 36th league title.

Los Blancos will be without their star attacker Vinicius as the Brazilian will miss the encounter after accumulating five yellow cards during the match against Osasuna on March 16 which resulted in a match suspension.

Earlier, Ancelotti confirmed on Saturday that longtime absentee Eder Militao is likely to get some minutes against Athletic Club.

Militao, 26, tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) at the start of the season and was expected to be out till May but the Brazilian made an excellent recovery and is likely to play against Athletic.

"[It's] an important game that we go into with all the confidence in the world. Militao is back tomorrow, which is the most important news. He's not 100%, because he still needs to play football, but he's fine with the injury. That's very good news for us. We've had the bad luck of [Thibaut] Courtois' injury, but he'll be back soon," Ancelotti confirmed in a press conference on Saturday.