Luis Enrique Says Exertions against PSG Played a Role in Loss against Deportivo

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique watched his team go from the euphoria of a 6-1 win over Paris St Germain in the Champions League to suffering a 2-1 loss against Deportivo La Coruna during the weekend.

This result is a huge setback for the club in the La Liga title race – especially after watching Real Madrid get a win against Real Betis later in the day. Barcelona created history by becoming the first team to overturn a 4-0 deficit for the first leg of the Champions League match against Paris St Germain. It was an incredible game which saw the Spanish club progress into the quarter-finals after a 6-5 win on aggregate.

Everything seemed to fall in place for the Catalan club, who have recently taken the lead in the La Liga title race after Real Madrid dropped crucial points against the likes of Las Palmas.

Barcelona had a one-point advantage over Madrid are coming into the game against Deportivo La Coruna, despite Madrid having a game in hand. Now, however, they have fallen back into the second spot as a result of the shock loss against a team fighting near the drop zone. Even though Luis Suarez came up with a goal to equalise Joselu’s 40th minute effort, a second-half goal from Alex Bergantinos proved to be the winner.

"It is always better to go in euphoric than pessimistic.Watching us in the build up to the game, it was clear that [beating PSG] would cost us. We knew so beforehand. We didn't have the necessary fluency to overcome their [Deportivo's] style but we were growing and ended up making mistakes. We lacked that lucidity and it was a shame because I think this match was very important to continue our form and for our rivals to see how good we are, but we were blunt," said Enrique.