Barcelona are eyeing their Champions League opener against Celtic tonight as a chance to make amends for their shock 2-1 defeat at home to La Liga newcomers Alaves on Saturday.
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Brendan Rodgers has reinvigorated the Glasgow club since taking over from Ronny Deila in the close season, qualifying for the group stages after a two-year absence and overseeing a 5-1 thumping of fierce local rivals Rangers on Saturday.
Barca boss Enrique felt Alaves benefited from more than a little help from a makeshift defence which included Aleix Vidal and an out of sorts Javier Mascherano.
“We have the shortest turnaround you can have between games”.
“It’s an area where we’ve been strong in other years, but we also lacked fluidity and precision”.
Enrique had taken the decision to leave Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto out of the side following the global break.
The Frenchman scored a late victor against Astana to help the Hoops into the Champions League play-off – from where they qualified for the group stage into a pool featuring Barcelona and Manchester City – but he would not have been playing against Rangers if Leigh Griffiths had recovered from a hamstring injury.
With many of his players in action with their global sides in midweek, coach Luis Enrique rotated his squad, resting regulars Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba and talisman Lionel Messi.
“It is what it is”, he responded when pressed on his changes. Some will follow the money and believe you me he could have got a lot more money than what he has got here.
“Everything bad that happens is my fault, but it’s easy to criticise with hindsight”.
“We are not here just to be passengers”.
Midfielder Sergio Busquets, who was one of the few regulars to maintain their place in the starting lineup, backed his coach’s decision to rotate. “The manager decides who should play”, Busquets said.
“Luis (Enrique) made a number of changes to the team”.
“But having said that the level of our play, with the goals we’re scoring, how creative we’re looking and how organised we’re looking, we’re confident we can go anywhere and get points”.
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“It is a long competition, but I am convinced we will win it this year”.
