Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano admits they must beat Real Madrid next week to keep the title race alive.

Aside from the morale-dropping 2-0 loss to Malaga, the implications of anything other than a win over Real Madrid in the upcoming Clasico could be profound.

"We have to win at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and hope that Real Madrid drop further points," the defender said on Movistar+.

"But these things happen. I can't fault the team, we gave it our all today."

With Neymar seeing red for an ugly challenge midway through the second half, Barcelona were always up against it and were caught out when pushing for an equaliser by substitute Jony's 90th minute strike.

"Unfortunately we didn't control the game, and once we went behind it was an uphill struggle," he admitted.

"We had chances to equalise but we knew they could always catch us on the counter."