Two goal Gerard Pique says Barcelona have a lot to improve on

Gerard Pique was one of the protagonists of Celta Vigo’s 4-3 win over Barcelona, scoring twice as the Catalan side were beaten for the second consecutive season at Balaidos. Speaking after the game, he didn’t bite his tongue, blaming a poor first half for his side’s second league defeat of the season. 

“In the first half we started well, but the [Celta] goal affected us,” said Pique after scoring two goals in a game for the first time since 2006 with Spain U19s. “Then they’ve scored two quick goals. In the second half we played better and we didn’t have anything to lose. It almost came off. It’s a lesson. 

“You have to highlight the team’s reaction and pride we’ve shown, but there are a lot of things to learn. There’s a long way to go in La Liga and it’s really tight.” 

The Barcelona defender didn’t want to analyse the lineup selected by Luis Enrique: “It’s easy to talk about [rotations] now. The team the manager put out is the one he felt was the best [for the game], we’re not going to complain about it now.” 

DEFENDS TER STEGEN  

Gerard Pique also came out in defence of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who gave away the fourth goal. “He is good with his feet and a lot of our moves are started by him. Everyone makes mistakes. May he continue playing as he does. I firmly believe that he has to continue in the same way,” Pique said, before adding: “Knowing how he is, I am sure this error won’t effect him.”