Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman considered that his team showed “that it is not inferior to Real Madrid” despite losing 1-2 to the whites in the LaLiga Santander Classic played this Sunday at the Camp Nou.
“We were good in the first half, we controlled the game and we had a great opportunity to get ahead on the scoreboard (the one Dest had in the first half). But it was the opposite, and in the second half Madrid was able to play their game, waiting and defending, “Koeman analyzed at a press conference.
Thus, he admitted to being “disappointed with the result”, but not by what his team did. “It’s a shame because we had the opportunities to get ahead,” he insisted.
In addition, he said that “losing a classic always means more than three points.” But, according to the Dutch coach, “there is no time to lower your arms, because on Wednesday there is another game (against Rayo Vallecano).”
“You can be sad today, but starting tomorrow you have to prepare for the next game,” he said.
Regarding the difficulty of Barça to win the big games lately, Koeman admitted that the Barça team “has to be required to be great against the big teams” and that “it is getting closer and closer” to achieving it.
On Ansu Fati’s poor performance in the classic and the change after a play in which he could hurt himself, Koeman did not want to be alarmist: “It was difficult for Ansu to create more, because they defended well. The small annoyances I think are not in the knee nor is it something serious. He has played 70 minutes and he had to rest to be able to be ready on Wednesday ».