Unlike in previous years, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti does not view Barcelona as a direct rival in La Liga this season.

Barca moved up a spot in the La Liga table following its dramatic home win over Elche on matchday 18. The Catalan side needed a late goal from midfielder Nico Gonzalez to avoid what would have been its third straight winless result in league play.

In a press conference ahead of the league encounter with Elche, Barca manager Xavi Hernandez touched on his team’s odds at possibly finishing in the top-four in the standings by the season's end. He went ahead to proclaim that no one should rule out Barca from winning La Liga.

However, Ancelotti does not necessarily view Barca as a main rival in league play this season, which he opened up about during his pre-match press conference for Real Madrid’s home fixture against Cadiz.

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“Now it's not a direct rival, because there are other teams closer,” Ancelotti said. “But they have the quality to go up and if I were coach of Barcelona, I would say exactly the same as Xavi.”

As it stands, Real Madrid sits at first place in the league table and 15 points above Barca.

Anything sure can happen in the world of football, but for Barca to at the least give itself any hope of making a surprise run to the top spot of the La Liga standings, it would need to open up a lengthy winning streak at this point in the campaign.

The Catalan side will finish the calendar year with an away league fixture against Sevilla on Tuesday.