La Liga title still not out of grasp: Guardiola

Madrid: Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola insisted Sunday that his side`s shock 0-1 defeat away to Getafe does not mean that the Spanish football league title has been lost.

Barcelona`s first defeat of the season came as Juan Varela`s second half-header gave the only goal of the game to a Getafe side that managed just one shot on target, but defended well against a Barca unit that looked jaded after Wednesday`s 3-2 win in Milan. Barca`s defeat, coupled with Real Madrid`s 4-1 thrashing of Atletico Madrid means that Real Madrid now lead the reigning champions by six points, and given that Madrid have dropped just five points all season, is a huge gap. Guardiola, however, doesn`t believe it is definitive. "There is still a long way to go in this league and we have to recover from the effort we have made. We worked very hard and well, but now we have to think about playing Rayo Vallecano and Levante before Real Madrid," Guardiola was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "We created a lot of chances against a side that played six defenders and just one striker. We couldn`t open up the game and they scored from a corner. We tried right until the end and I have nothing to criticise my players for.” "Getafe are a well trained side and they didn`t give anything away, but there is a long way to go yet and I don`t think that the league has escaped us yet. In the history of Barcelona, we have come from behind to beat Madrid on many occasions," he concluded. IANS