After Barcelona were held by Sevilla, Quique Setien said he expected Real Madrid to also drop points.
Barcelona coach Quique Setien disagreed with Gerard Pique and believes Real Madrid will drop points late in the La Liga season.
Setien’s men were held to a 0-0 draw at Sevilla on Friday, giving Madrid the chance to join them on 65 points when they visit Real Sociedad.
Pique said it was hard to see Madrid dropping points in their remaining nine games, but Setien disagreed.
“I think that about Pique is the frustration of the moment. We were very confident because we had 30 very good minutes at the beginning of the game and then we got messy,” he said, via AS.
“In the second half, we lost balls that gave them life.
“Tomorrow, he will surely think differently because I am sure that Madrid will not win everything.”
A win against Sociedad on Sunday would send Madrid top of the table thanks to their head-to-head record against Barcelona after their El Clasico victory in March.
But Setien, whose side host Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday, is remaining upbeat.
“The rivals always have things to say, there are very tough confrontations and you have to be optimistic,” he said.
“We don’t depend on ourselves, but you have to be optimistic.”
Barcelona were on top in the early stages against Sevilla but it was Jules Kounde from the latter who drilled a shot wide early.
It then took two Sevilla players to stop Lionel Messi at the expense of a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area at the 20-minute mark.
Up stepped Messi, and his shot beat the wall and might have beaten Tomas Vaclik too, but the goalkeeper was done a favour by Kounde, who cleared the ball from almost on the line with a flicked header over the bar.
Messi tested Vaclik moments later with another free-kick, and the goalkeeper was more comfortable second time around.
Inevitably at the centre of things, Messi avoided punishment for shoving Diego Carlos to the ground in first-half stoppage time after the home defender fouled Suarez.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen came to Barcelona’s rescue early in the second half with a fine parry to deny Lucas Ocampos, the goalkeeper’s strong left hand keeping out a thunderous shot from a tight angle to the right of goal.
The German thwarted Munir moments later too, pushing away a vicious left-footed strike.
Vaclik tipped another Messi free-kick over his crossbar at full stretch as the game entered its final 20 minutes, before Jordi Alba made a key block at the other end as Sevilla launched a three-on-one breakaway raid.
Ocampos drew a save from Ter Stegen with a low shot but neither side could successfully plot a way to a goal, Sergio Reguilon failing to properly get hold of a close-range shot at the death, to Barcelona’s great relief.
