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Luis Enrique defended his star trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar Jr after his Barcelona side lost against Real Madrid 2-1 on Saturday.
Barcelona went into the match as the unquestioned favorites, but left it as the soundly beaten losers. Real Madrid was especially dangerous at the end of the match, even when they were down to 10 men, and Barcelona was uncharacteristically quiet in attack. Nothing exemplified Barcelona’s offensive struggles more than Luis Suarez’ shocking miss in the 10th minute.
The miss was nothing short of unbelievable for Suarez, who is arguably the best center forward in the world.
But, Enrique has reminded the world that his players are human too, capable of mistakes and failure.
"We're not machines, there can be mistakes, positional or decisions. But I've blind faith in my players, we stick to our path"
"MSN are not machines, they are best players in the world in their position. But that is far from saying they are invincible."
Cristiano Ronaldo scores against Barcelona. Photo: @ChampionsLeague | Twitter
This is a poor time for Barcelona to be reminded of its mortality. The team faces Atletico Madrid in a Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, just three days after their loss to Real Madrid. Enrique, however, is hopeful that the loss will put Barcelona in the right mentality.
"We almost didn't remember anymore how it felt to lose. I hope it can be an extra motivation to win again. I hope all my players can step it up a notch in the final stretch of the season because we will need it.”
Whether or not Barcelona’s loss to Real Madrid remain to be seen. The team has a six-point lead of second place Atletico Madrid in La Liga, and a seven-point lead over Real Madrid. They have breathing room, but as Gareth Bale mentioned after his Madrid side’s victory on Saturday, it only takes a bad few results to knock a team off its groove, and maybe off the top of the league.
We’ll know on Tuesday if such a slide is possible.
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