Barca coach feels Messi and Co can keep calm to retain La Liga title

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said on Friday he trusted his team to handle the occasion of this weekend’s season finale at lowly Granada, where a win would guarantee their 24th La Liga title.

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Barcelona are top on 88 points, one ahead of Real Madrid who visit mid-table Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday hoping to pounce on any slip-up by their rivals and snatch a first title since 2012. Both matches kick off at 1500 GMT.

“We are an atypical team from the rest and these players have won so many things and are accustomed to all types of difficult situations,” Luis Enrique told a news conference.

“It’s an attractive game but there will be moments when we’ll have to suffer. There’s a rival in front of us and we’re playing away from home.

"These games are played with a lot of tension because the players have been feeling the fans’ anxieties all week, so what you have to do is try and control that.”

Luis Enrique also said he would not pay any attention to events in Coruna.

“There’s only one game for us. If we don’t win ours then we’ll look at the other one,” he said.

“I have the feeling that we’ll only win the league if we win in Granada.”

Neither Granada nor Deportivo have anything to play for in their final games of the season, but Luis Enrique fully expects both teams to put in a professional performance.

“I would always put my hand in the fire for all professionals in the football world. You have to focus on being as professional as possible,” he said.

Barca have scored 21 goals in their last four games since ending a winless streak of four that threw their title hopes into doubt, and the coach believes his players have fully banished the demons from that barren run.

“I think the team have recovered the level we were at several weeks ago and we’re back to producing the same performances each week,” he added.

"We have to win in Granada, create scoring chances and concede as few as possible to our opponents.” 

Image: Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates a goal

Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters