Luis Enrique leapt to Marc-Andre ter Stegen after his blunder against Celta Vigo as “a Barcelona goalkeeper must take risks”.
Ter Stegen’s hesistance when clearing his lines not only resulted in Pablo Hernandez scoring the winning goal in a 4-3 victory for Celta on Sunday but also wheels of Barca’s comeback falling off, yet Enrique refused to blame his goalkeeper.
“We didn’t win a single duel, attack the spaces, position ourselves well, have control of the game or play with fluidity and movement,” the Coach said of his side’s deficiencies in the first half.
“We then started to play with more precision and read the game better, but it’s clear the fourth goal killed us.
“Still, the game didn’t surprise me. The third we put into our own goal and the fourth I can’t even tell you.
"A Barcelona goalkeeper must take risks. I won’t evaluate individual errors here, but the goalkeeper is key for us.
“Now it’s easy to criticise and say that maybe they should be less risky, but in retrospect everything is easy.
“I’m the one most responsible for this defeat. We all lose together and we all win together, but when we lose I’m the first culprit and the first who must improve.
“I’m responsible for the rotations, so it’s I who must assume responsibility.
“We really wanted to take the lead in the dressing room, but the season’s only just begun and now we can only go forward.”
