BARCELONA COACH LUIS Enrique said he was “p****d off” after his side fell to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to former side Celta on Saturday evening.
One week on from their morale-denting 3-1 loss to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in El Clasico, the Camp Nou side dropped to third in La Liga after falling victim to a major upset.
Barca hit the woodwork four times — twice each through Lionel Messi and Neymar — with the Argentine also missing a presentable headed opportunity in the first half as he failed to equal the league’s all-time goalscoring record.
Celta goalkeeper Sergio was also on impressive form, making nine saves during the match and leaving Luis Enrique extremely frustrated.
“We had 19 shots, nine on target and hit the woodwork four times — sometimes the ball does not want go in,” he said at his post-match press conference.
“I am not worried and I liked the players’ attitude but I am p****d off at not being able to win the game.
“For sure there are things we can improve but I would sign up for having that many opportunities again in a match.
“Usually games like this one are games to win, but this was not our day. If you are not clinical and then have Sergio’s intervention, you can get results like this.”
Luis Enrique said the club now faced an important week after falling to two straight Liga defeats for the first time since May 2009. He continued: “The defeats are painful and can create doubts. We have to see what we can improve – there is an interesting week coming up.
“The most important thing is to lift ourselves and show that we are prepared to change this situation. Our opponents’ results do not matter until we improve. The players, coach and the club must move on to the next game, there is no other option.
“It would be easy at this moment to sacrifice ourselves and say that everything is wrong. That is not me – I have faith in what we are doing.
“Celta are a team who are uncomfortable to play against. It doesn’t matter whether I liked how the team played or not because in football you get prizes for being effective and here we were not effective in front of goal.
“They tried to create chances but did not make too many of them. There were a couple, but no more than that.”
Barca face a trip to play Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday, before returning to Liga action on Saturday with an away game against Almeria.
