Frenkie De Jong insists Barcelona will carry on fighting to defend their LaLiga crown.

The champions are fourth, eight points behind surprise leaders Girona, as they prepare to return to league action at Real Betis on Sunday after four successive cup games.

With Real Madrid seemingly well placed to strike, just a point off the top with a game in hand, Barca now look like rank outsiders in the title race but playmaker De Jong is not giving up.

The Dutchman told the club’s website: “There are three titles still to play for. We’re in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey, we’re still in the Champions League and we’re going to do everything possible to get back into contention in LaLiga.

“That depends on Madrid and Girona and we can’t do anything about that, but I do think we have the squad and if we improve a few things we have a very good chance of winning a lot of the games we have left.

“I think we can still fight for the league. We know we have to improve but the quality is there.

“We’re lacking decisiveness, concentration sometimes. We have to improve that and focus all game. If we do that, we have a very good squad to fight for every title.”

Barcelona suffered a disappointing 4-1 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Real in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia last weekend.

It was a humbling experience but De Jong does not think too much should be read into it.

“We didn’t play well in that game, but one game doesn’t make a season,” said the 26-year-old, who made his 200th appearance for Barca in the midweek Copa del Rey win at Unionistas Salamanca.

“We lost to Madrid and deservedly so. It was a fair result.

“But losing one game – and we lost it badly – doesn’t mean we’re having a bad season.”

Barca take on a Betis side hoping to build on claiming their first league win since November as they edged out Granada last weekend.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini said: “They did not have a good performance in the Super Cup but they are still in three competitions.

“They are still competing for the top places. They may be a few points lower but there is an enormous amount of time to try to fight back.

“If we believe that we are going to find a Barcelona in crisis, we would be very wrong. We expect a tough opponent.”

Manuel Pellegrini believes his Premier League title with Manchester City "can't be taken away" after the club were charged over alleged breaches of financial regulations.

The league referred City to an independent commission after numerous alleged breaches that date back as far as the 2009-10 season.

Possible punishments have not been confirmed, but there has been discussion of what any sanctions might mean for titles won during the period in question.

Pellegrini, now at Real Betis, won the 2013-14 league title with City, as well as two EFL Cups, before being replaced by Pep Guardiola in 2016.

"That league can't be taken away because it's been lived – with your fans, at the ground," Pellegrini told the Guardian. "You were at Wembley, you lifted a cup.

"Could there be some legal means? I hope not, that everything gets clarified.

"But that can't be taken from you. Imagine they take the trophy away, I don't think the runner-up now feels like the champion.

"Football is the moment. You win on the pitch."

The 2014 title was City's second – after Roberto Mancini's 2011-12 team provided the first – but Pellegrini recalled his side's spending was not out of the ordinary.

He added: "The criticism is unfair. If there had been an astronomical difference, then maybe, but Chelsea were spending a fortune, Manchester United were spending a fortune, Liverpool, Arsenal.

"The work City did was very good; it's not just related to money.

"For example, they swapped Mancini for me for football reasons. And then [when I left], they said: if it's not Guardiola, it's you. You work for three years, Guardiola comes; there's continuity.

"Other big clubs invested but couldn't do that. We've seen teams come up, spend £100m, go down again."

In Pellegrini's title-winning season, City spent a reported £90million  on players such as Fernandinho, Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo.

Chelsea spent more, around £110m, while Liverpool finished second despite spending less than half of both those clubs.

Pellegrini indicated the Premier League's increasing and diverse spending power has become one of its strengths, with many clubs able to splash out – unlike in LaLiga.

However, he still ranks the standard of football in Spain's top flight ahead of its English equivalent.

"City, United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, now Newcastle, could all compete for the league," Pellegrini said.

"The distribution of money is better, the amount generated. In Spain, the gap is significant.

"England is the best league, but the best football is played in Spain.

"Look at the Champions League, and Real Madrid or Barcelona are champions. In the Europa League, Villarreal and Sevilla."