Barcelona must now win It all, or lose it all

Barcelona must re verse an amazing loss of form to win all five of their remaining La Liga games to be assured of retaining their title, starting with a trip to Deportivo tonight. The Catalans have taken just one point from their last four La Liga games and lost four of their last five in all competitions having previously enjoyed a 39game unbeaten run stretching back six months.

Only Barca's superior head-tohead record separates them from their Champions League conquerors Atletico Madrid at the top of the table, with Real Madrid lurking just a point further back after a run of seven straight league wins.

All three face tough tests on a Wednesday evening of action that will go a long way in settling the title with the fixture list for all three favourable in the final four games.

Barca are up first as they travel to Galicia in a desperate search to snap their worst run of league defeats in 13 years.

Coach Luis Enrique and Gerard Pique -often a spokesperson for the club -though insisted Barca can and will win the league if they play like they did against Valencia on Sunday despite slipping to a 2-1 defeat thanks to a mixture of bad luck, poor finishing and a brilliant goalkeeping display by Diego Alves.

“If there is a team capable of doi ng it and much more given what they have done, it is this Barca,“ said Enrique. Pique added: “We don't have any margin for error, but I prefer to lose like this than win playing badly. Football is like this, sometimes it is marvellous, sometimes it is so cruel.“

However, Pique's absence at the heart of Barca's defence through suspension will be a huge loss for Enrique with Marc Bartra expected to cover in the absence of Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen.

Atletico face a daunting trip to Athletic Bilbao with the Basques still eyeing Champions League football next season having moved to within six points of fourth-placed Villarreal at the weekend.

A 2-1 victory at San Mames propelled Atletico towards the title two years ago and Diego Simeone's men will have it easier with the absence of Bilbao's two top scorers this season -in Aritz Aduriz and Inaki Williams -through injury.

“We have the possibility to play an important game in Bilbao and continue competing in the four games left afterwards,“ said Simeone when quizzed on Atletico's title chances. “It will be difficult, but we have to do what the schedule demands of us and that is win, win and win again.“

Atletico will be forced into at least one change as captain Gabi is suspended, but Fernando Torres will start alongside Antoine Griezmann -on 29 goals for the season -up front. El Nino has scored in four consecutive games for the first time since he was at Liverpool in 2010.

Real will have the advantage of knowing what Barca and Atletico have done when they kick-off in the late game at home to Villarreal. Coach Zinedine Zidane had rested the likes of Sergio Ramos, Casemiro and Luka Modric for Saturday's 5-1 rout of Getafe and all three expected to return. Danilo, who's had a tough time with Real, is also expected to start at right-back with Dani Carvajal an injury doubt. Pepe and Gareth Bale will be missing as well through injury.

Zidane has warned the club's fans not to get carried away. “We have won nothing. Absolutely nothing. We are in a good situation but we have won nothing,“ Zidane said at a press conference ahead playing Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabeu. “I don't like to see people saying we are going to win everything.“

Madrid were 12 points behind Barca in March, but a run of seven consecutive wins combined with a slump the Catalans' form has allowed them to close right in.