Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has declared that next weekend's El Clasico against Real Madrid will not decide who wins the Spanish title.

With Real currently topping the standings and Barcelona second on goal difference, the Catalan giants travel to Madrid for a clash many observers are predicting who will reign supreme in La Liga.

Both play this weekend - Real away at Racing Santander and Barcelona at home against Athletic Bilbao - evidence, Guardiola claims, that all will not be won or lost during the showdown in the Spanish capital.

"There is life before the match at the Santiago Bernabeu, and afterwards we have other matches that are very important," he told Marca.

"There are a lot of points to contend for and these matches are all just as difficult as the one against Madrid."

Barcelona wowed the world with some superb football during their 2-2 Champions League quarter-final draw with Arsenal on Wednesday night, a display that Guardiola believes augers well for the coming games.

"It is the team's objective to maintain tone," he said.

"We are on a very good trajectory, but there are also a lot of factors that influence this play - that the other team plays the ball, the state of the pitch and so on.

"On Saturday cannot go out waiting to repeat the same sort of performance."

Barcelona won the first El Clasico of the current season 1-0 last November thanks to a strike from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.