Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has taken time out to explain his spat with teammate Sergio Busquets during the Catalans’ disappointing 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Saturday.
The two players were spotted clashing on the pitch after Thomas Lemar had opened the scoring for the hosts. Pique was quizzed on the incident after the full-time whistle and was happy to offer an explanation, as reported by Marca.
“We had already talked about the fact that they hit with Lemar and generate superiority. Ronald Araujo came out [of defense] and no on went with him [Lemar],” he said. “No one likes to concede a goal. We had talked about it and their two goals are very similar.”
Former Barcelona striker Luis Suarez added a second before half-time to secure the victory and hand the Catalan giants a first La Liga defeat of the season that leaves the team down in ninth place in the table.
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Pique Opens Up On Barca’s Problems
Barcelona have now managed just three wins all season in all competitions and Pique opened up on the team’s current problems after the final whistle at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
“It is not a single problem, there are several,” he said. “I think people perceive it and know it. You can see what we are missing. We will recover from this and from Wednesday’s defeat. These are difficult times and not many of us who are in the squad have gone through this before. The atmosphere in the dressing room is very good, there is a desire to turn the situation around, but it isn’t easy.”
The Catalan giants lost players including Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann over the summer and have been hit by a number of injuries to key players at the start of the season.
Teenage striker Ansu Fati has only just returned after 10 months out with a knee problem, while Pedri, Ousmane Dembele, Sergio Aguero, and Martin Braithaite all missed Saturday’s match because of injury.
Toothless Barcelona Fail To Score Again
The injuries to Barca’s attackers have been a real problem which was highlighted once again versus Atletico as the visitors struggled to work goalkeeper Jan Oblak and failed to score for the second match in a row.
Pique acknowledged his team are finding goals difficult to come by and admitted they must keep on working hard to try and turn the situation around.
“We have to rest during the national team break and then start again. I think we started well, we were brave but a couple of breaks and they scored from very little,” he added. “From here we could be playing for three hours and not score any goals. The feeling is that the issue is complicated. We are suffering, I will be honest. We have to keep working to improve.”
Barcelona have two weeks to rest now because of the latest international break and do not play against until October 17 when Valencia visit the Camp Nou in La Liga.
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