Luis Enrique believes Barcelona are still sitting in pole position
to win the Liga title regardless of their three consecutive defeats
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique
sees no reason to panic after Sunday's 2-1 defeat at the hands of
Valencia and remains optimistic about their chances of winning La Liga.
The
Camp Nou side created numerous chances early on, but an own goal from
Ivan Rakitic and a composed finish from Santiago Mina saw them go two
goals behind at half-time.
Lionel Messi pulled one
back after the interval to end his five-match drought and bring up his
500th career goal, but it was not enough to salvage a point.
This
weekend's defeat was the Catalans' third in a row, with Atletico Madrid
now level on points and Real Madrid only one adrift.
Nevertheless,
Luis Enrique was pleased with Barcelona's performance and is confident
they can win their remaining five games to be crowned champions again.
"I
think we need five wins to win the title and if there is any team that
is capable of doing that it's Barcelona," he said. "We face a great
challenge, but we will be champions if we win our remaining five
matches.
"I can only praise my players. There is
no reason to criticise them. I think we responded magnificently to our
recent disappointments. We were just missing luck. We only needed a
goal. We actually got one, but it was in the wrong goal.
"I
cannot remember another team that lost so unfairly like Barcelona have
done in recent games. It was a very good performance in a difficult
moment. We were superior to Valencia in all aspects. They were only more
efficient.
"We created plenty of chances and
deserved three points. But this is football. You can win games without
attacking and that happened today."
Barcelona resume La Liga action away to Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday.
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