Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he remained "positive" about their La Liga title chances following Sunday evening's dramatic 3-2 win against Valencia at the Bernabeu.
Madrid seemed in control against mid-table Valencia after goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema made it 2-0 by half-time. But the visitors kept fighting and a dramatic second half saw Rodrigo Moreno pull one back, Ronaldo nab a second of the game, and Andre Gomes 20 yarder make it 2-3.
Even after Rodrigo was sent off for dissent, the visitors' 10 men kept pressing for an equaliser and Madrid were frantically defending their penalty area during added time -- when a goal for Valencia would have meant Barcelona were declared champions due to results elsewhere.
But Zidane's side held on for what was an 11th straight La Liga win and now go to already safe Deportivo La Coruna next Saturday hoping for a win, and for Barca to slip in Granada, to give them the unlikeliest of title victories.
The Los Blancos coach told his postgame news conference that "anything could happen in football" and his team knew they must focus on making sure they win their own game.
"I'm always positive and know that anything can happen in football," Zidane said.
"We must be aware of that, give everything, and keep going until the end, to see what happens. The first thing is our own game -- it will not be easy, and we all know that.
"Then I believe it can happen -- Granada must play their own game, even though they are safe. We will do the most we can to win our own match."
During the second half, Zidane substituted top scorer Ronaldo, while also giving minutes to reserve full-back Alvaro Arbeloa who is leaving the club this summer. The Frenchman admitted his team had found it difficult to close the win out.
"In the second part we had a bit of confusion ourselves," he said. "But that can happen sometimes. That is part of a game -- and in the end we had some difficulties, but against an opponent who played their game too.
"We got the three points which is the most important. The good thing is the team, as always, we have known how to suffer until the end, and we are all happy."
Ronaldo's brace took him to 33 in La Liga this season, but with just one game remaining the Portuguese remains four behind Barca's Luis Suarez in both the La Liga pichichi and European Golden Boot top scorer races.
"Knowing him well, Cristiano will fight for it until the end," Zidane said. "Not to be pichichi, as it is his aim to score in every game. He always wants to score more and more. We will see how it goes."
Valencia's players were angered by the performance of referee David Fernandez Borbalan, especially as Benzema appeared to have been flagged offside before scoring his goal.
"I did not see that [Benzema] was offside," Zidane said. "I do not talk about referees, and I will never do that. We deserved to win the game, we had some difficulties in second half, but that's normal against a good team. The referee always does the best for both sides."
Gareth Bale and Keylor Navas missed the Valencia game with minor injuries, but Zidane said he would not be resting anyone next week at Riazor, even with the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid on May 28 in Milan looming.
"We will rotate the squad, but we will go there just thinking about that game," he said. "We have then a fortnight to prepare for the last game. So we will have time for that, to think about the final. We will go to La Coruna, all of us, as until the last minute anything can happen."
Benzema had missed the Champions League semifinal second leg against Manchester City last week with a muscle problem, which Zidane said was now in the past.
"We have seen that today physically it was not easy for him, but he managed the issue very well," he said. "That is good news for us. He is over his last injury now."