Barcelona manager Luis Enrique is confident his side will bounce back from their worst run of the season to conquer La Liga, following their 2-1 defeat at home to Valencia.
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In the 2-1 loss to Valencia, Rakitic scored an own goal but called their opponent’s win as luck.
Lionel Messi ended a five-game goal drought to bring up his 500th for club and country, but couldn’t inspire a Barca fightback as their alarming collapse in recent weeks continued after a 39-game unbeaten run.
This weekend’s defeat was the Catalans’ third in a row, with Atletico Madrid now level on points and Real Madrid only one adrift.
“I can not see the future, but I am sure, certain, that we are not depending on anyone else”. We know how big of a challenge it is.
Zinedine Zidane’s team are also into the last four of the Champions League thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired comeback against Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals and, if results go their way in this upcoming round of midweek league fixtures, could find themselves top of the table with just four matches remaining. Now we have an incredible challenge in front of us. Fortune has not smiled on us. We had many clear chances but lacked the fortune necessary. “We are used to playing under pressure, but we have to try and stop our rivals scoring goals against us when they not done much to earn them”, he said. “We’re going to approach it like a Barca player always does, with our heads held high”.
“We created a lot of chances but we were unlucky”, Luis Enrique said.
The goal, which gave Barcelona their first against Valencia and a lifeline in a suddenly hugely important match in the La Liga title race, was also Messi’s 450th for Barca.
“We have to get together and win all the games that remain”, said the Croatia worldwide.
Mina expressed his admiration for Neymar as a player but accused the Brazilian of being a sore loser. If any team can do this, it is this Barca side. “They were playing very good game”. Today is not a day to criticize my players, but to praise them.
The 90 minutes brought no changes at all from the Barca bench, which featured full-backs Dani Alves, Douglas, Aleix Vidal and Adriano, center-back Marc Bartra, young forward Munir El Haddadi and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
“We were better than Valencia in every aspect apart from effectiveness”.
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“If they don’t, I think they’ve blown it, it’s that cut and dried for me”.
