La Liga: Barcelona 'capable' of winning remaining games, says Ronald Koeman

FC Barcelona head coach Ronald Koeman said his side was "capable" of winning the remaining fixtures in the 2020-21 La Liga after they defeated Valladolid 1-0 on Monday.

With the latest three points, Barcelona now are just a point behind table leaders Atletico Madrid, who lost 1-0 to Sevilla on the same day. With nine games to go in the Spanish top-flight league this campaign, the title race is close with Barcelona and Real Madrid closing in the gap on Atletico.

"The team is capable of winning the games we have left but today was also a reminder you always have to be at your very best and you have to be clinical. We weren't feeling fresh today, maybe because of the international break, but if we get back to how we were before then we're capable of winning all our games.

We didn't make a great start to the game but we improved in the second half, we changed the system and made some substitutes and were a lot better. You have to give credit to the team for their mentality as they were always on the lookout for the three points. It was a very difficult game, we were not at the top of our game but sometimes you have to know how to suffer and in the end, we deserved the victory," Koeman told reporters after Barcelona's win at Camp Nou.

"It was so important to win tonight, we're only one point behind Atletico and we're ahead of Madrid. We're at the decisive stage in the title race and it's going to be exciting right until the end," added Koeman in the same interview.

An assist from 22-year-old Ronald Araújo helped Ousmane Dembele volley a 90th minute-winner to send Barcelona second in the points table. The Lionel Messi-led side is two points ahead of the defending champions Real Madrid.

The arch-rivals next meet in this year's second El Classico next Saturday in Madrid and whichever side wins the game will go top of the table before Atletico take on Real Betis the following day. Last October, these two teams met at Camp Nou, where the hosts suffered a humiliating 3-1 loss.