Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has hinted that his side have conceded the upper hand in the La Liga title race to arch rivals Real Madrid, following the latest round of results.
Quique Setien’s men travelled to Sevilla last night, for their latest league outing.
Barca headed into proceedings sitting pretty atop the Spanish top-flight table.
The Blaugrana were aware, though, that any slip up could prove costly, after Real Madrid continued to impress with a 3-0 drubbing of Valencia on Thursday.
Goals from Karim Benzema (2) and the returning Marco Asensio saw Los Blancos move to within 2 points of their table-topping Clasico rivals.
And, when all was said and done at the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium last night, Barca managed to put just a further point between themselves and Real.
A resilient Sevilla side kept the champions’ host of attacking stars at bay throughout the 90 minutes, to see the spoils deservedly shared.
Significantly, meanwhile, as well as having gained crucial ground on Barcelona in the title race, Real Madrid also hold a game in hand over the Catalan giants.
This means that, should the capital outfit secure a victory in their extra fixture, they will move level with Barca at the La Liga summit.
And, as outlined above, one individual who seemingly feels that Real, as a result, now hold the upper hand in the title race, is Gerard Pique.
Speaking on the back of his side’s Sevilla stalemate, the Blaugrana stopper revealed his opinion that Zinedine Zidane’s men, based on current form, look unlikely to drop any points over the season’s run-in:
"It doesn’t depend only on our results anymore."
"It will be difficult to win this league. We will do everything we can. But from what I’ve seen in recent weeks, it would be a surprise if Real Madrid drop points."