Luis Enrique questions his own Players over Defeats

Luis Enrique has challenged his Barcelona players to respond to the 1-0 loss against Real Sociedad.

The defeat allowed Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid to get back into the title race. Barcelona had a 10 point advantage over Real Madrid only a few weeks ago. The draw against Villarreal and coupled with these defeats against Madrid and Real Sociedad have pulled them back into the midst of battle. The team needs to recover quickly or face the prospect of teams overtaking them. After scoring freely in the first half of the campaign, Enrique has found himself in a tight situation.

The much praised forward line-up of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar continues to score goals, but Barcelona have been weak at the back. Further, Messi has been going through a slump in form by his extraordinary standards. He has failed to score in the last four matches of all competitions. He was guilty of missing a number of good opportunities against Real Sociedad, but it is highly unlikely that he will face the chop. Enrique is also unlikely to change the team much going into the next few games. The concentration will immediately be upon the Champions League second leg match with Atletico Madrid in a few days. This will be followed by a home encounter against struggling Valencia.

"The game started in the worst possible way, they scored from their first chance and we had a very bad first half.We needed more control. I liked the second half more. Their goalkeeper, Geronimo Rulli, as usual, had a great game. We did not deserve to lose.It's clear La Liga is open, exciting, but we are still the leaders and now we have to bounce back immediately,” said Enrique. Meanwhile, Andres Iniesta says that the team cannot afford to drop any more points in the race for the league title.