Real coach salutes Barcelona

Real Madrid [Images] coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo has hailed Barcelona as worthy champions but believes his side could have beaten them to the league title if he had had more time at the helm.

"There has been a lot of talk here about whether they have been given the benefit of refereeing decisions and other things, but they've been a great team and have been on top form throughout the season.

"We put them under a lot of pressure, but they never eased up and although we amassed a lot of points they have deserved their victory."

Barcelona clinched their first league title in six years on Saturday after they drew 1-1 at Levante, while Real were held 2-2 at Sevilla. The results gave them an unassailable six-point lead at the top of the table with two games left to play.

Even if the Catalans lose their remaining two matches they cannot be caught because of their better head-to-head record in meetings between the two teams this season.

Luxemburgo took over at Real at the end of last year with the club in the midst of a crisis that had seen them slump to fifth place in the league, 13 points behind Barcelona.

A 1-0 defeat at home to Sevilla prompted the club to sack previous boss Mariano Garcia Remon who had taken charge of the team after Jose Antonio Camacho had thrown in the towel just three games into the season.

Luxemburgo, who had recently led Santos to the Brazilian title, helped spark an immediate upturn in Real's fortunes by masterminding their 2-1 win over Real Sociedad in the remaining six minutes of a match that had been held over because of a bomb scare at the Bernabeu.

In the 19 games since that victory Real have made up a further four points on Barcelona and Luxemburgo believes that if he had had a little more time in charge of the side they could have deprived their arch-rivals of the title.

"I'm very happy with the way the team has responded since I took over," he said. "But at the same time I'm sad because I didn't have time to win the league... Now I hope to be able to be in charge for a complete campaign and not just half a season.

"This is a very big club and I have no doubt that we can turn this team into the champions and we are going to do it -- I'm sure of it."

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