BARCELONA -- Luis Enrique says Real Madrid's success in the Champions League should be looked at in a more holistic manner.
Madrid took a huge step towards becoming the first team in the modern era to retain the European Cup with a 3-0 semifinal first leg win over Atletico in midweek.
With the second leg to come at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday, Zinedine Zidane's side are now huge favourites to reach their third final in four years.
However, Los Blancos' recent achievements on the continent have not been paired with domestic titles. They have not won La Liga since 2012 or the Copa del Rey since 2014.
"That's one statistic and one which shows the value of Real Madrid, but it is a little partisan," said Luis Enrique -- who has won two La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys and a Champions League as Barca manager -- when asked about Madrid's European accomplishments in a news conference on Friday.
"You have to look at what they have done in other competitions, and at what other teams have done. In that respect -- and in the league in the last four years -- the statistics are not as positive."
Barca lead Madrid in La Liga due to their superior head-to-head record but Zidane's men have a game in hand and will win their first title in five years if they win their remaining four matches.
However, Luis Enrique still harbours hope of leaving the Blaugrana this summer having won the double -- Barca play Alaves in the Copa del Rey final at the end of May -- and expects the battle for top spot to go to the wire.
"In my first season we won the league in the penultimate game, then last year on the final day," he added. "It looks like it will go to the final game again this season.
"Our only option is to keep winning our games and to hope [Madrid drop points]. We just have to get nine points from the three games we have left."
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The first of those three games is against Villarreal at Camp Nou on Saturday and Luis Enrique confirmed Andres Iniesta is available after missing last weekend's win over Espanyol.
That means Barca are likely to field their strongest lineup, with just Jeremy Mathieu, Aleix Vidal and Rafinha sidelined with injuries.
Only Atletico Madrid (25) have conceded fewer goals than Villarreal (28) in Spain's top flight this season and Barca dropped points at El Madrigal in January, so Luis Enrique knows it will be a tough game against Fran Escriba's side.
"[Defending] is one of Villarreal's strong points, the numbers show that, but they also attack well," he said.
"The two phases, defence-attack, they do well with all their players, they have a capable manager, work well as a team ... they're one of the most difficult teams to counteract in the division and a really complicated rival.
"It will be tough to get the ball off them and as we press high, we will leave space. That's how they scored in the first game, through a transition, but we will go with a similar idea on Saturday."