arca captain Puyol: the league is not lost

 　　MADRID, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Barcelona captain Carles Puyol sounded a battle cry Tuesday that his side have in no way given up on their chances of retaining the La Liga title.

　　Barcelona may have only lost one game this season, but their 1- 1 draw away to local rivals, Espanyol on Sunday night means they have slipped five points behind Real Madrid in the race for the Spanish league title.

　　That means that even if Barcelona defeat Real Madrid in the league in the second half of the season, they need Madrid to drop more points against other sides and the fate of the title is no longer in their hands.

　　Given that apart from their defeat at home to Barca, Madrid have only dropped five points in 16 games, it is hard to see where Barca's rivals could slip up, but with over half of the season left to play, Puyol is giving nothing up as lost

　　"We knew that we were going to have little margin¹ for error. Five points are a lot and Madrid are doing very well, but we are going to give everything to be the champions. It is a challenge for us to beat this Madrid," he said in a press conference

　　Barcelona could have won on Sunday had referee² Turienzo Alvarez given them an injury time penalty following a clear handball from Espanyol defender³ Raul Rodriguez, but Puyol preferred not to dwell on the refereeing⁴ error.

　　"What we have to do is concentrate on our job. We can't do anything about referees⁵, it is really hard to referee a game and if he didn't give the penalty, it is because he didn't see it. We are not going to start thinking that they do things like that on purpose," he commented.

　　Puyol also spoke⁶ about coach Pep Guardiola, who was named best coach of the year by FIFA on Monday and Leo Messi, who was awarded the Balon D'Or in the same event.

　　The Barca captain highlighted the importance of Guardiola to Barcelona's success, while adding the Messi could go on to break all the records of the game.

1 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

2 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

3 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

4 refereeing   

[计]仲裁，审稿工作，稿件评审

参考例句：

• I've spent too much time in my career refereeing staff/line disputes. 办事人员和第一线人员常常发生争执，我为解决这种争执花费了许多时间。 来自辞典例句
• Unfair refereeing in yesterday's match made the news again. 昨天的比赛中又爆出了“黑哨”丑闻！ 来自互联网

5 referees   

n.裁判员( referee的名词复数 )；证明人；公断人；（专业性强的文章的）审阅人

参考例句：

• The fiery player has had numerous run-ins with referees. 这位脾气暴躁的队员曾和裁判员发生过无数次争吵。
• If you want to appeal, the Court of Referees will decide. 如果你要上诉，可以由仲裁法庭去判决。 来自辞典例句

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。