Lionel Messi on Barcelona’s loss: The Barca captain has spoken on the club’s frustrating outing against Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona are held to a 1-1 draw by Athletic Bilbao at Camp Nou in their seventh La Liga match of the season. Barca suffered a shocking 2-1 loss to Leganes in the mid-week match, which was their only second in the league this year.
The club’s captain, Lionel Messi, spoke to the media after the draw against Athletic Bilbao. He insisted that the team didn’t expect such results and is angry with the performance.
“I knew it was a risky decision.”
Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde on deciding to bench Lionel Messi for his side’s La Liga clash against Athletic Club.#FCB #LaLiga pic.twitter.com/6cNJ8LQDPL
— Goal (@goal) September 30, 2018
“We are not anxious because the season is long and has only just started, but we are angry about the last results,” Messi said.
“Against Leganes we played well in the first half and lost, and today we created chances to win but couldn’t.”
Barcelona conceded their eighth goal in the La Liga season yesterday against Athletic Bilbao, and Messi has stressed on improving the defensive performance.
“We are aware that we have to be much stronger defensively,” said the captain.
“Last year we hardly conceded goals but now teams are scoring against us with their first attempt. We cannot afford to concede goals in every game. We have to improve and become stronger in defence, which is the most important thing.”
MESSI’S NOT HAPPY
Lionel Messi said Barcelona are “angry” and called for improvement after a 1-1 draw at home against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.https://t.co/49uNi9XCqM pic.twitter.com/hCztofakfV
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) September 30, 2018
Lionel Messi’s forward partner Luis Suarez also criticised Barcelona’s performance against Bilbao. He stated that the team cannot rely on Lionel Messi every time.
Messi was benched for Athletic Bilbao, and reports stated that Valverde gave him rest for the next weekend’s Champions League match against Tottenham Hotspur.
“He is the best in the world but we can’t rely on Leo to always sort everything out for us,” the Uruguayan forward said.
Lionel Messi vs Athletic Bilbao – 29/9/18 (1-1) pic.twitter.com/up6OwBJDNp
— Messi Stats (@MessiStatsUS) September 29, 2018
“The other players here are here on our own merits and we can’t depend on him or Busquets, we should have been winning when they came on to the pitch.”
The Catalan club will travel to North London to play Tottenham on Wednesday, before returning to La Liga action with an away trip to Valencia.
