BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Barcelona Coach Hansi Flick pledged to work on his team’s defending next season after his side edged Real Madrid 4-3 in a thrilling La Liga Clasico on Sunday to put one hand on the title.

The Catalans moved to the brink of La Liga glory with their victory at the Olympic stadium, opening a seven-point gap on second-place Madrid with three matches remaining.

In the final stages Madrid spurned several good chances to equalise, while on Tuesday Inter Milan knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League semi-finals in a 4-3 win as the Catalans’ defence crumbled.

“It’s not been easy for us to work on some things in training. I know that we have to improve [defensively], and we will do it next season,” Flick told reporters.

Barcelona play with a high defensive line and Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick and two disallowed goals, and Vinicius Junior breached it several times.

At the other end, his team’s talented attacking stars have put 16 goals past Real Madrid in four meetings this season, Barca triumphing every time.

The Catalans were also ousted by Inter 7-6 on aggregate and have arguably been the most entertaining side in Europe this season.

“For me, it’s not always fun; sometimes I really suffer a lot,” admitted Flick.

“I’m really happy with what we are doing [in general], and of course, football is a game of making mistakes.

“Hopefully, we can make things better and make fewer mistakes.”

Flick said he does not blame his defenders for the team’s struggles to keep goals out, and that it is more of a systematic issue.

“I think this journey that we started last year, it’s not over — I know that we have to improve a lot in defence,” added the coach.

“It has nothing to do with the back four. When we make mistakes, Real have fantastic offensive players.”

Barcelona can wrap up the title with a win at local rivals Espanyol on Thursday, or before if Madrid lose against Real Mallorca on Wednesday.

“It’s football, you don’t know what happens but we’re in a good position and we need three more points,” said Flick.

“This is what we want to do as soon as possible but every match will be tough, every opponent wants to win against us.

“But we have the quality — and when we play like today, I think we can get there.”