Luis Enrique believes Barcelona stayed loyal to their way of playing
FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique admitted that his team stayed loyal to the Barça way of playing football after the loss against Real madrid in Saturday’s first Clasico of the season.
He also refused to accept that he played any differently to the other games the Catalan giants have played so far this campaign.
Today, Luis Enrique believes his team can turn things around and put the Clasico behind them in their match against city rivals Espanyol in the Catalan supercup.
“It’s a chance to turn things around” he told today’s press conference, referring to the need to restore morale after the setback at the Santiago Bernabéu. “We’ll be going there looking to win the game and claim the trophy” he said. “We need to forget the game the other day … but it will also be a nice chance to give a run-out to players that haven’t got to play much this year, and also some of the players from the reserves that did so well in the preseason.”
After the Clasico, Luis Enrique stepped up to the plate and admitted full responsibility for the loss and even said that the best team won.
“I am glad that the players and staff were ready to be self-critical after the game” he commented. “I take full responsibility for the defeat. It had nothing to do with problems with fitness or attitude. It was particular circumstances during the match that affected the team.”
Lucho said that the Catalans could even have gone 2 goals up in the first half and that his team stayed loyal to their particular way of playing.
“Far from it, we stayed more than loyal to our way of playing football” he argued. “Particularly in the second half, I’ll admit that we didn’t play our best. But we tried to dominate possession, we were brave, we got nine corners and they only got three, and we created so much pressure early on that we could easily have gone 2-0 up.”
I’m glad to see Luis Enrique isn’t shirking his responsibilities as a manager and blaming his stars for the outcome. Maybe he got his tactics wrong on the night but then again, what would have happened if Messi scored number two to make it 0-2?
