Guardiola's side are six points adrift going into Sunday's Barcelona derby with Espanyol. -Photo by AP

BARCELONA: Real Madrid deserve to be top of La Liga because they have been better than Barcelona, the Catalan giants coach Pep Guardiola said on Saturday.

Real Madrid lead Barcelona by three points heading into this weekend's round of matches and Guardiola admitted that each season was getting more difficult to win the title.

“The reality is that we are for the moment behind a team that has been better than us this season,” said Guardiola, who last season got the better of their bitter rivals beating them to both the title and in the Champions League semi-finals though losing to them in the Spanish Cup final.

“The competition is once again really going to test us. Each year, it becomes more and more difficult to win and this year will be no exception.”