Xavi asks players not to be careless as Barca have a 15-point advantage

Xavi has warned Barcelona they cannot consider the league title won even if they beat Girona to open a 15-point lead over Real Madrid on Monday.

Barca were crushed 4-0 by Madrid in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final in midweek, meaning the Blaugrana only have the LaLiga title to play for.< /p>

They were already 12 points clear at the top before this weekend, and Madrid's surprise 3-2 home loss to Villarreal on Saturday gives Barca the chance to increase the gap.

No team has ever overturned such a deficit at this stage of a LaLiga season, so Barca's position looks very secure.

But Xavi was keen to stress the importance of not taking their lead for granted, with the former midfielder acknowledging his young side lack a certain degree of maturity.

"[The title] would not be considered won, there would still be 10 [games] left," Xavi said bluntly in his pre-match press conference.

"When the league is won, we will celebrate it. We have to win it. Tomorrow's game is a very good test for us after Copa elimination.

"We depend on ourselves. Fifteen points would be a spectacular difference. It wouldn't be all over, but it would be a big difference, and winning the championship would be extraordinary."

Despite Barca's huge lead in La Liga, their performances in other competitions leave a lot to be desired.

Despite winning the Supercopa de Espana, Barca dropped out of the Champions League in the group stage and the Europa League - Manchester United rightly knocked them out of this competition, and they were still more completely eliminated from the Copa by Madrid.

But Xavi lent himself to comments once made by former Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane suggesting that La Liga success reflects stability.

Asked about the motivations of Barca players, Xavi replied: "Winning LaLiga. Winning LaLiga is the goal.

"We have won five Champions Leagues, and winning the Champions League is an obligation for us, but winning La Liga gives us stability.

"We're 12 points clear and that means we're doing well. We appreciate what we're doing. It's amazing and it brings us closer to winning La Liga, which for us would be amazing."

As for other competitions, Xavi reminded critics that they are still only at the beginning of a new era.

"We need time. We won the Supercopa, we are on the right track in La Liga. In Europe, we have not been competitive.

"We've signed players, there are young people [in the team]… when we've been playing together for two or three years, we won't be under construction.

"We have won one title and we are on our way to another."