Vilanova: "If Mourinho thinks Barça is the best, that's fine by me"

Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova is well aware of just how important the last league game against Betis was in order to secure the title: "If there was a game when we needed to keep our cool, it was today," he said on Sunday night, at the end of the game. "We reacted well after going a goal down right at the start of the match. It wasn't easy and the players have shown some real character."

Messi saved the day once again: "Managing his injury, working in the morning and the afternoon; if it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have made it back for this match. I spoke to him this morning and he was fine. He was lacking fitness because he has barely been able to train over the last month and a half."

After this performance, the league is all but won: "It's not a weight off my shoulders. We've competed as best we could. We've already proven our consistency in the league. Madrid has had a spectacular second half of the season. If we'd lost focus, we would have had a tough time of it. I'm going to take the view that Madrid will win them all and we have to score the last two points that we need."

Vilanova was asked about Mourinho's recent comments, after he praised Barça for the first time: "If the Madrid coach thinks that Barcelona is the best team of the last 20 years, that's just fine by me. If someone as prestigious as him thinks so, we should be happy."