Barca have appeared to have one hand on the title for the last few months, with a 10-match winning streak in La Liga helping them establish a 12-point cushion over second-placed Madrid just a few weeks ago.

However, that gap has now been reduced considerably in the last fortnight with Barca slipping up against Real Betis and Espanyol while Madrid have powered on relentlessly, fashioning their own 10-match winning run in the league with last night's 2-0 victory over Espanyol.

Barca can return the difference to seven points if they win tonight's tricky away match at Atletico Madrid, but at the very least Guti now feels as though Pep Guardiola's side will be starting to notice the heat.

"Now I think Barcelona will feel pressure. I hope that Atleti win," said Guti, who scored his side's first goal against Espanyol just 10 minutes after replacing Gonzalo Higuain in the second half.

"We are very happy with the game we had. My goal came at a great time because we needed to score. Raul's goal then helped us relax a bit more."

Madrid went into last night's match in fine domestic form but with morale dented following Wednesday's Champions League defeat to Liverpool, and coach Juande Ramos felt it was important to get back on track straight away.

Ramos refused to get too excited about the possibility of taking another huge chunk out of Barca's lead though, pointing out there is still a long way to go.

"There are many games left to play and when a competition is so even anything can happen," said Ramos, whose side lost the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie to Liverpool 1-0 at home.

"We've picked up three important points, because after the Liverpool game it was important to get back to winning ways.

"We've earned a number of good results in the past few weeks, the team was flying and the Liverpool match hurt us.

"We've tried to get things back to normal in the last couple of days and that's why this victory was so important.

"But we shouldn't forget what I said in midweek about the Champions League tie being 180 minutes long. We've played one half and it's 1-0. Real Madrid are capable of winning at any stadium."

With regards to last night's victory, Ramos said: "We knew that the game was not going to be easy because they (Espanyol) had confidence high after their victory over Barcelona, and here they wanted another win in front of their fans.

"The first half was very even, then Guti's goal has opened things up and we've had more chances."

He added: "I'm not worried about that game (Atletico-Barca), our obligation was to win and we did it. Our obligation is to continue winning our games."