Vidal: Points difference not important in El Clasico

Barcelona full-back Aleix Vidal says his side’s 10-point advantage over Real Madrid will be of little relevance come the weekend’s El Clasico fixture.

The La Liga title chase has turned into something of a one-horse race with Barcelona vastly superior to second-placed Atletico Madrid and third-placed Real and the Catalan giants can hammer another nail in their arch-rivals’ title hopes with a win at Camp Nou on Saturday.

“We focus on winning and it is true that we have a significant margin of points,” Vidal said.

“We know what we have to do and from there the two best teams in the world face and anything can happen.”

The fixture comes after the international break during which a number of his side’s stars have been busy playing in South America and across Europe, and it kicks off a hectic schedule in which Barcelona will play Real before taking on Atletico in the Champions League.

But Vidal said the heavy schedule does not faze him and his team-mates.

“There is so much motivation to play in these types of games that fatigue remains in the background,” he said.

“A team like ours is able to play many games in a row, we have the best in the world and no matter how many games we play because we will always [play to the] death.”

On the match itself, Vidal said he was confident in his side’s firepower.

“We have the best forwards in the world and our mentality is always to win,” he said.

Barcelona will also use the occasion to pay tribute to one of their former greats in Johan Cruyff, who died last week following a battle with cancer, with a spectacular 90,000-piece mosaic.

“We want to top off the tribute to Cruyff by dedicating a victory to him,” Vidal said.