Luis Enrique: Celts Vigo's fourth goal killed Barcelona

Luis Enrique: Celts Vigo's fourth goal killed Barcelona

The Barça coach didn't want to single out any players for criticism after the loss in Galicia

Luis Enrique is dangerously familiar with leaving Balaidos a beaten man. After a second successive defeat there, he blamed a disastrous first half. 

“We didn’t win any of our individual battles in the first half,” he said. “We didn’t attack into space, we weren’t well-positioned, we didn’t have control of the game and we didn’t play with any fluidity.

“We were more precise in the second half, we anticipated things better and were more accurate with the ball. But it’s clear that the fourth goal killed us. 

“But given how the game was going, it didn’t surprise me, either. The third was an own goal and I can’t even tell you about the fourth.”

In any case, he didn’t want to point the finger at Ter Stegen: “A Barcelona goalkeeper has to take risks. I’m not going to talk about individual errors. The goalkeeper is key for us. He serves to create superiority in terms of keeping the ball and bringing it out. It’s easy to criticise and say that maybe he could have taken on less of a risk, but everything’s easier in hindsight.” 

Luis Enrique asked for the criticism which follows to focus on him, not his players: “I’m the first person responsible for this defeat. We all lose and we all win, but when we lose I’m culpable first, the first who has to improve. I’m responsible for the rotations and I’m the one who has to take the responsibility.”

The Barça coach lamented that “in the dressing room there was a lot of motivation to get back to the top off the table. But the season’s only just got started and now we have to pick ourselves up.”