Juande Ramos has declared today that if Barcelona slip up this season, Real Madrid will be waiting to take advantage.
The defending champions currently sit six points behind the Catalans in La Primera but with a game to go between the two sides at the Bernabeu, it could be a close finish.
Speaking to Real Madrid radio, Ramos acknowledged that his team will not give up but that they have to give their all from now until the end of the season.
“At no time did we give up on the twelve point gap that was between us and the great merit of this team will be to win every game and make Barcelona do the same,” he said. The key was relaxing the players and making them believe. We have tried to get the best out of them so they can play for a team as big as Real Madrid. The effort we have put in from day to day has allowed us to compete with Barcelona in the league. Barcelona cannot even have the tiniest slip up because we will be there. They will have to give their best if they want to win the league, that gives me a lot of hope.”
Certainly the Catalan side are the favourites at the moment and even though they still have to play Madrid, will fancy their chances of winning the league.
Ramos praised the balance in his side though and recognises that not conceding goals has been key.
“Games can only be won by playing well and having a balance. If you let in a small amount of goals it helps the defence and also the attack. The first results were small, but now the team has grown a lot. We have defensive security and we have improved up front,” he mused.
The coach went on to praise the two winter signings, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Lassana Diarra. “They are doing wonderfully…[Diarra] knows how to read games perfectly,” he concluded.
