Diego Simeone accepts his Atletico Madrid side have to beat Granada on Sunday if they wish to capitalise on Barcelona s mini-collapse.
Barca have not won in three La Liga matches, handing Atletico the chance to join them on 76 points for a brief period at least before Luis Enrique s men host Valencia in the late game.
Simeone told a news conference: We have a very clear situation: we need to win and then wait to see what Barcelona do.
What we can affect is beating Granada.
Simeone was not getting over-excited by Atletico s title push, however, and urged his players to focus ahead of the game at the Vicente Calderon.
We live day to day, and can see the situation is changing a lot, he added. We don t think beyond that but the team is strong and in a good moment. We need to use our hearts, legs and heads.
Atletico advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League in midweek thanks to a 2-0 defeat of Barca but Simeone is adamant their continental adventures will not hamper their league form.
We always maintain our line of work, as we did in 2014 [when Atletico won La Liga and reached the final of the Champions League]. We will compete in the Champions League until the end. But it won t divert our attention. We will focus on improving and hope to play a good game tomorrow.
Atletico will meet Pep Guardiola s Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals which represents a major challenge , according to Simeone.
We will face a strong, important rival with great history in these situations, he said. They have a coach who knows exactly what he wants and a team that always competes for the Champions League title.
It will be a good game, a great opportunity and a major challenge.
