Valverde: The good thing about Dembele is that he always tries LaLiga - Malaga 0-2 Barcelona Recorded a routine 2-0 victory over Malaga

Ousmane Dembele's performance on Saturday was his best in a Barcelona shirt, and Ernesto Valverde has commended the Frenchman for always trying.

After a difficult debut season at the Camp Nou, the former Borussia Dortmund winger looked settled on Saturday and his football was free-flowing as a result.

"The thing about Dembele is that he always tries, he has a place here," Valverde explained in his post-match press conference.

"He's a player who needs time, he's young and had injuries, there is pressure on him.

"Today is yet another step forward for him."

Chelsea are the Blaugrana's next opponents and the Catalan giants will be aware that if they keep a clean sheet on Wednesday, they will book their place in the quarter final, although the Spanish coach is aware of just how difficult a task this will be.

"We will have to suffer to progress past Chelsea," he admitted.

"Scoring early here was crucial, the red card made the match easier for us.

"In the second half we began to subconsciously think about the match on Wednesday."

Real Madrid's sorry defence of the LaLiga title has been one of the stories of the campaign thus far, however the former Athletic Club coach refuses to count Los Blancos out completely.

"Of course they're a rival for the league title," he intimated.

"They will remain to be a rival until the mathematics of the table suggest otherwise.

"I don't discount them, and they'd do well not to discount themselves either."