Their chemistry before the rot set in was evident, with Luis Enrique joking in February that all he had to do was say “Abracadabra” to get them to work their magic.
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Barcelona was back to its old self in Wednesday’s match at Deportivo, scoring at will and winning easily, just like it did most of the season until an inexplicable recent collapse. “We only have one option, which is to win”.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique remains convinced his faltering team will end their winless run and retain the La Liga title after seeing their treble dreams dashed. “There is nothing more important for Barca fans than turning around this situation and we know the difficulty of the challenge, so I’m not interested in anything else”. And they two away games will be against Athletic Bilbao and Levante.
Barca travel to play Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday, their lead at the top of La Liga having been cut from 10 points, with Atletico Madrid now level and Real Madrid just a point behind, Lucho believes the Catalans can handle the chase.
“The league was up for grabs for Barca and in the dressing rooms I saw something fly but I wasn’t paying attention”.
They have 40 points from 33 games and is in 12th place.
“It is in our hands, but obviously we are in maximum difficulty”. We must continue with the belief we can do something. Against Sporting Gijon, Barca will play at Camp Nou.
Luis Enrique has been reluctant to rest his jaded forwards and, remarkably, made no substitutions in Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat by Valencia, suggesting he has little faith in the members of his squad beyond the regular starting 11.
Diego Simeone’s men, into the Champions League semi-finals at Barca’s expense, eased to a 3-0 home win over Granada on Sunday to join the champions on 76 points.
Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, Francisco Roman “Isco”, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez, from left, celebrate a goal against Getafe during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Getafe at the Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, near Madrid, Saturday, April 16, 2016.
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“I have no idea what is happening with Barcelona, but football is like this; there have been moments when we’ve gone through bad patches and we’ve come out fighting”, he said.
