Real Madrid still have title chance: Cruyff
MADRID: Former Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff said on Monday Real Madrid still have a chance at the league title despite going seven points behind Barcelona.
Real Madrid crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Osasuna on Sunday, and they were all but written off for the Liga title by most of the Spanish sporting press.
"I am not going to say that this Liga is decided, because it is not," Cruyff wrote in his weekly column for the northeastern Spanish regional daily El Periodico de Catalunya.
"Seven points and the goal average are a lot, because Barca is not planning to give anything away. But beware, no-one should bury Madrid," he added.
Jose Mourinho's squad will do everything they can to hang on so they have a hope of winning at the end of the season, he said.
"But they have a problem, and it is called Barcelona," Cruyff added.
"Pep Guardiola's boys are very good, they know what they are doing and they don't care who they play against or where."
Cruyff noted Barcelona's record-equalling 15th consecutive league win with a 3-0 victory at Hercules on Saturday, matching the long-standing record of Alfredo di Stefano's great 1960-1961 Real Madrid side.
A three-time European Footballer of the Year, 63-year-old Cruyff started his career as a teenager at Ajax before going on to enjoy huge success with Barcelona, whom he then coached to the 1992 European Cup and four straight league titles between 1991 and 1994.
Real Madrid crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Osasuna on Sunday, and they were all but written off for the Liga title by most of the Spanish sporting press.
"I am not going to say that this Liga is decided, because it is not," Cruyff wrote in his weekly column for the northeastern Spanish regional daily El Periodico de Catalunya.
"Seven points and the goal average are a lot, because Barca is not planning to give anything away. But beware, no-one should bury Madrid," he added.
Jose Mourinho's squad will do everything they can to hang on so they have a hope of winning at the end of the season, he said.
"But they have a problem, and it is called Barcelona," Cruyff added.
"Pep Guardiola's boys are very good, they know what they are doing and they don't care who they play against or where."
Cruyff noted Barcelona's record-equalling 15th consecutive league win with a 3-0 victory at Hercules on Saturday, matching the long-standing record of Alfredo di Stefano's great 1960-1961 Real Madrid side.
A three-time European Footballer of the Year, 63-year-old Cruyff started his career as a teenager at Ajax before going on to enjoy huge success with Barcelona, whom he then coached to the 1992 European Cup and four straight league titles between 1991 and 1994.
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