Frank Rijkaard reckons his Barcelona side must win all their remaining 12 Primera Liga games to claw back the five-point gap on Real Madrid.Barca relinquished a one-goal lead at Atletico Madrid on Saturday and eventually went down 4-2, leaving the Dutchman to rue his tired players' missed chances.
"We should have punished them more," the 45-year-old said.
"We dominated but without doing much harm. We created very few chances when we were leading."
Rijkaard is concerned about the hectic fixture schedule facing his players heading into the business end of the season.
"We've talked to the doctors and they told us that there were players with discomfort and some at risk of overloading," he told the club's official website.
"Every week things change, (but) we have to win all our remaining games."
Brazilian centre-back Edmilson believes Barca can pull together to recover the gap to Real, which had been cut to two points before the weekend.
"Even though we are five points behind, we still have a chance to win the league," he said.
"For the team it is not a step back and I think that there are losses that only make you stronger.
"The group is very united, and what we have to do is not make the same mistakes that caused us to lose in the Vicente Calderon.
"We were in control for almost the entire first half up to the first goal, but the two Atletico goals before half-time destroyed the team. They just grew and the individual actions of (Sergio) Aguero were decisive.
Midfielder Xavi acknowledged Barca needed to be more ruthless.
"We tried everything, but they had more quality up front," the 28-year-old said.
"We have to learn from these mistakes, crush the opponent when he's down.
"We're five points behind. There's a lot of time left and we'll fight to the end."
Edmilson insists Barca still have a great opportunity to win three trophies this season.
They next face Celtic at the Nou Camp in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League encounter on Tuesday.
He said: "We have the chance to win all three competitions (La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League) and we shouldn't let (Saturday's defeat) get us down.
"Maybe this will serve to make us more alert and unite us even more to get on with the games.
"Now we are focused on Tuesday's game (against Celtic). We have to concentrate as it is a very important match.
"We have got the advantage (3-2 from first leg) but we can't be too relaxed."
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