La Liga: Barca Not There Yet —Coach  

Barcelona boss Tito Vilanova has stressed that La Liga title race is not over, despite his side opening up an 11-point gap to champions Real Madrid.

The Blaugrana cruised to a 4-0 win over Levante yesterday, taking full advantage of los Blancos’ 1-0 defeat to Real Betis on Saturday night before to consolidate their position at the top of the table.

However, Vilanova has warned that there is still a long way to go this season, and highlighted the threat posed by current second-placed side Atletico Madrid, who defeated Sevilla 4-0 at Vicente Calderon earlier on Sunday evening.

He told reporters after the match: “We scored very quickly in the second half and that defined the match. The first half was what we expected, because they are a team that works very well [together] and they break quickly.

“The league is not finished. Firstly because we’ve only played third of it, and then because Atletico are behind us and are very strong.

“There’s still a lot to play for, 75 points is a lot. Also, remember that in the first year that we were 11 points clear of Real Madrid and had to go to the Bernabeu and win.

“Atletico have had a good start, which isn’t a surprise as they finished last season very strongly. All we can do is focus on beating Athletic. I want to focus only on us.”