Luis Suarez: “We know that every player has to fulfil their expectations. I was in goal playing for Roma but I appreciated what I saw from Barcelona”.
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“I don’t think we are playing at our best and last season we were better”, he said.
“When the market opens we’ll assess what state the team is in”, said Luis Enrique.
“For us the good news arrived before the match”. It is not all doom and gloom as Roma still have a chance to advance as BATE drew 1-1 with Leverkusen.
Substitute Bruma caused some problems as a late substitute, firing just wide from 18 yards before cutting inside Gerard Pique and forcing Bravo into a brilliant point-blank stop, but Messi came close a minute later as he curled a shot onto the crossbar from just inside the box.
Five minutes later, Barcelona’s goalkeeper Ter Stegen saved Edin Dzeko’s penalty kick in the dying minutes of the contest.
Barca, who won all three competitions last term, have been in scintillating form in recent weeks and hammered Real 4-0 at the Bernabeu last weekend before demolishing AS Roma 6-1 in Champions League Group E on Tuesday.
Messi had hit the crossbar only minutes earlier in search of his first league goal since September, but was able to round off the scoring in the first minute of injury time, appearing at the far post to tap in after another outstanding piece of skill by Neymar.
Another landslide win? Certainly that’s what the bookies are suggesting today as Barcelona prepare to welcome Real Sociedad to the Camp Nou.
It seems that Barcelona coach Luis Enrique intends to give no quarter against Real Sociedad, which is struggling to escape from the shadow of the relegation zone, in light of the absence of its midfielder Asier Illarramendi due to suspension. Neymar’s assist total sets him on pace for 13, which is around Messi’s average of 15 assists over the last three years in the Spanish League. Then we tried to shut up shop, but even though we had 11 men behind the ball we still conceded exactly the same kind of goal.
And the diminutive Argentine had to wait in line behind the Brazil’s Neymar and Uruguay’s Suarez, who have scored goals aplenty in the interim, for his moment Saturday.
With Sociedad surrendered and the result beyond doubt, Neymar and Suarez went to pains to try and set up their strike partner.
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“[Jeremy Mathieu] is a very important player for us because he can play two positions at a high level”.
