There's a lot of fatigue, Setien defends team after La Liga hopes up in the air

Despite the 1-0 win over Real Valladolid, Barcelona's hopes of winning the league title depend on Real Madrid.

FC Barcelona, unlike their arch-rivals, have struggled to eke out results ever since the restart of La Liga. While Real Madrid are in pole position with a point lead and also a game in hand.

The Catalans were very weary in their 0-1 win over Real Valladolid away from home, as they scrapped to victory in order to keep their title hopes alive. A solitary goal from Arturo Vidal ultimately made the difference between both sides.

Barcelona have played nine matches in a span of 28 days since the restart and manager Quique Setien believes that fatigue has taken a toll on his side. The hosts did pose a late threat to equalise but German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen kept everything out on the night.

"We could have finished things off by half-time by scoring two or three goals the way we played," said Setien in a post-game news conference.

"It was really comfortable up until that point. But by the end of the game, the team was tired. We played less than 72 hours ago [beating Espanyol 1-0], it was really hot out there and a lot of the players weren't fresh."

Setien's men have dropped points in three of these nine matches and have blown out a two-point advantage over Real Madrid which they had ahead of the hiatus. Now, Los Blancos are in the ascendancy and if they win two of their last three games, they'll be declared as champions.

"It was not a football problem. We've played a lot of games, there's a lot of fatigue. We've got players that have played a lot of minutes. It wasn't a football issue," he insisted when asked why Barca had been second best in the second half.

Talisman Lionel Messi has been one of the busiest players for the side. The Argentine became 33 last month and is the only player to have played every minute since the restart. Even last night against Valladolid it was Messi who set up Vidal for the solitary goal. But he seems to have lost his scoring boots as he found the back of the net only once in the last seven matches and that too was a penalty against Atletico Madrid. Setien believes that the drop in form may indicate that he needs to rest.

He remarked, "I'm sure he will [rest] at some point," Setien said. "I've mentioned it to him but the score was very tight tonight. If we'd scored more goals in the first half, more players would have been rested later."

The Spanish tactician also confirmed that Antoine Greizmann was taken off due to a minor injury and will undergo further tests. Barcelona will travel to play against Osasuna for their next La Liga fixture while Real Madrid will travel south to face Granada.