Barcelona looking to seal the La Liga title at the earliest following cup exit

According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona will look to wrap up their La Liga title triumph sooner rather than later, following their exit from the Copa del Rey earlier this week.

Barcelona were dreaming of a domestic treble this season, having already won the Spanish Super Cup and being on track to win La Liga. But an exit from the Copa del Rey at the semi-final stages following a 0-4 defeat to Real Madrid meant that it will remain a dream.

The focus is fully on La Liga now and Barcelona do not want to slip up and leave the door open for Real Madrid to make a late push for the title.

As things stand, with 27 games played, Barça have 71 points, 12 more than second-placed Real Madrid. And with 11 matches left to be played in the remainder of the La Liga campaign, the Catalan giants wish to wrap things up at the earliest possible.

In that context, the upcoming La Liga game against Girona on Monday becomes very important. Another mishap in that game could deliver a major hit to the confidence of the players and possibly leave the door ajar for Real Madrid.

So, it is safe to say that Barcelona cannot afford to slip up even an inch going forward in the season.

Xavi is understood to have delivered a message to the players after the Clasico loss, during which he said that there is no time for regrets and that they need to focus on bagging the league title.

Barcelona have a few tricky fixtures during the final run-in. They host Atletico Madrid at Spotify Camp Nou on April 23 and play Real Betis at home a week after that. There are also away games against Getafe and Rayo Vallecano which can be potential banana-skin games.

Come May, Barça will travel to Espanyol for a derby before hosting Real Sociedad. There are also games against Real Valladolid and RCD Mallorca which are considered winnable before they wind up the season versus Celta Vigo on June 4.

Ideally, though, the plan is for Barcelona to have the title in the bag well ahead of that last match against the Galician outfit.