Barca will win title - Rakitic, Pique

[HIGHLIGHTS] Juvenil (Divisió d’Honor): FC Barcelona A - Sant Andreu (3-0)
ESPN FC"s Gab Marcotti crunches the numbers and says that travel-induced fatigue is at the heart of Barcelona"s recent struggles.

Despite falling to their fourth La Liga loss of the season in their 2-1 defeat at home to Valencia, Barcelona duo Ivan Rakitic and Gerard Pique are adamant that their team will come good in the end.

Barca went into Sunday"s game at the Nou Camp with a three-point lead over challengers Atletico and Real Madrid, but their failure to get any points on the board has now seen Diego Simeone"s team go level with them on the table, while Madrid are a point behind in third.

Coupled with their shock Champions League exit at the hands of Atletico last week, Luis Enrique"s swashbuckling Barca superstars are now going through a mini crisis that threatens to derail their season altogether.

Rakitic gave Valencia the lead when he diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper Claudio Bravo before Santi Mina doubled the advantage for the visitors. The only positive from the game was Lionel Messi ending his goal drought to pull one back in the 63rd minute.

"We have to get together and win all the games that remain," Rakitic toldMarca.

"The luck was in Valencia"s favour, but the desire was ours. It was just that the ball didn"t want to go in.

"We"re sad for what"s happened, but we"re experienced and we must be together. Together, we"ll win.

"We don"t have any doubts about ourselves, but the dynamic isn"t good and we have to change it.

"We had a clear chance at the end with Pique"s, but it only underlined the bad luck that accompanied us in the game."

Gerard Pique is confident Barcelona are still going to win the La Liga title this season.

His teammate Pique, was equally positive, but has warned that Barca have now left themselves with no room for error with five games left to play.

"We see ourselves as capable to win five out of five and we will need to do that," the Spain international said.

"Many things go through your head and it"s difficult to see the stars cross in this way. The latest developments are a great reflection but you can"t stop.

"The team is the same as two or three weeks ago. Psychologically we are well, and the sensations are different to the other defeats. It"s in our hands, and we will keep going forward.

"We have exhausted our margin of error. But I"d prefer to play like this [against Valencia] and lose than to have won in the past few days.

"I am convinced we are going to take it [the league title]."

The Catalan giants have an opportunity to get their league campaign back on track, when they travel away to take on Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday.

Source: http://www.espnfc.com/barcelona/story/2853123/barcelona-rakitic-and-pique-still-confident-of-winning-title