“We played well but the result did not reflect the performance,” says Barcelona manager
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has said his side had “bad luck” against Real Sociedad after taking 25 shots, hitting the woodwork five times, scoring three goals that were cancelled, and seeing a penalty overturned as they lost 2-1 at Anoeta.
The Catalan side travelled to the Basque country on an 11-game winning run, the second-best in the history of the club, but although Rashford’s header cancelled out Mike Oyarzabal’s first-half effort, Goncalo Guedes scored just seconds later to ultimately condemn Barcelona to a defeat that saw the gap between them and Real Madrid narrow to a single point.
“I’m disappointed,” said Flick. “We played a fantastic game. We created many chances, but in the end the result doesn’t reflect what happened on the pitch.
“In the end, there are days when you do everything right and you have bad luck. We had situations where maybe we should have defended better, but in the end, this is football and I’m very satisfied with what we did today.”
Barcelona captain Frenkie de Jong criticised the referee for being arrogant and refusing to entertain his genuine complaints against on-field decisions, and Flick backed his player, saying he was correct.
“I’m not a player and I’m not on the field – I heard what Frenkie said and he’s right,” said Flick. “I don’t want to waste any more time on the referee. Everyone on the television and in the stadium saw his performance. We have to accept it. It’s like that.
“I always speak really good about the referees because we have really good referees in La Liga. But Frenkie is right. But we have to accept it, it’s not nice, but OK.”
The manager felt his side could have had better fortunes if they had put in a more solid performance at the back. Barcelona have been criticised this season for being too open in defence.
“We have to defend it better,” Flick said. “Directly after the 1-1, so we were in a good mood, we played well, and of course this goal kills us.
“We have to defend it in the beginning much better, but also with the cross we have to be there. This is what we have to change, to improve, and we will work on that.”
