Barcelona defender Dani Alves quickly switched his attention to
Saturday's showdown with Sevilla following last night's 4-1 defeat
of Tenerife.
Barca survived a brief scare against relegation-threatened
Tenerife but three goals in the final 27 minutes at a rain-drenched
Nou Camp saw them move four points clear of second-placed Real
Madrid at the top of the standings.
Madrid will reduce that difference back to a single point if
they can win at fourth-placed Real Mallorca tonight, and if that is
the case then this weekend's penultimate round of fixtures could
prove crucial.
Madrid, who face lowly Malaga in their final game, are at
home to Athletic Bilbao, while Barca face a testing trip to Sevilla
before completing their season against second-bottom Real
Valladolid at the Nou Camp.
Both of the top two will be favourites to win on the final
weekend, which makes what happens in the next four days potentially
crucial.
"Against Sevilla it will be a difficult game. With the
players we have we must be calm, but not relaxed. It will be a key
game, and all the time we are getting closer to the end of the
season," said Alves, who made his 100th appearance for Barca last
night having only joined the club two years ago from Sevilla.
Barca's win over Tenerife took them onto 93 points, which
broke the existing top-flight record in Spain for a league of 20 or
22 teams, which was the 92 points set by Fabio Capello's Real
Madrid in the 1996/97 campaign.
Alves said on his club's website: "We need to win the six
points that remain to reach our objective. This is a very tough
league, and in another season we would already have won it."
Looking at tonight's match at the Ono Estadi, the Brazil
international said: "Mallorca are on a good run and they are
playing for a lot - the Champions League. I guess that against
Madrid they will go out to win the game, but we have to continue
focusing on us."
