Barça coach Koeman: "It's never too soon to rise to the top of La Liga"

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman says it's never too soon to rise to the top of the table and praised his players for fighting back in the La Liga title race.

Barça were over 10 points behind Atletico Madrid at one stage but can go ahead of them with five games left if they win their game in hand against Granada on Thursday.

"Granada's an important game because we know we can go top but first we have to win," Koeman said in a press conference on Wednesday.

"As I have said, we're taking things game by game. It's an unexpected situation considering we were so many points behind. What we have achieved, to be able to fight for the league and to have the chance to go top, is huge.

"In the last 17 games, almost half of the season, we have won 15. It's impressive. And it had to be that way because if not we wouldn't be fighting for the title. The team has taken the bulls by the horn, things have gone better, the players are confident, they're taking more chances."

Koeman added that "the players are focused, I haven't seen them thinking the job is done," when asked if they could get carried with their success in recent weeks.

And asked if it's too soon to rise to the top, the Dutchman added: "It's never too soon ... the sooner you're top, the better."  

However, he's not yet willing to say his Barça side are now the favourites.

"The team who's first in the league is the favourite and we're still not the first," he said, coyly.

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