Spartak Moscow boss Unai Emery said his team had taken a step forward and it was always their intention to beat Barcelona.
The Russians shocked the Camp Nou by taking a 2-1 lead before Lionel Messi secured a 3-2 victory for the Catalans, and former Valencia and Almeria Coach Emery has now been unsuccessful 13 times in trying to beat Barca.
“I have the bad luck to never have beaten Barcelona. Every time I come to this ground I try to win. It’s not impossible and isn’t a thorn in my side. A lot of us have never won at the Camp Nou,” he told a Press conference.
“However, we are not satisfied as we wanted to win here with all the difficulties that entails.
“This makes me think we can do better in the future because we made a few chances and that is hard to do.
“We must congratulate our opponents and start thinking of our next match.”
Emery went on to reveal the game plan Spartak had adopted and came out in praise of two-goal Messi.
“We had different options as the game progressed but we made the decision to defend close to our area.
“We did well on many occasions and wanted to attack more, but it’s a long 90 minutes although we were happy with our defence. Our only intention was to win.
“Barca are very similar to when Guardiola was here and their continuity is excellent.
“They are among the two or three favourites to win this competition and when you talk about players like Messi you are talking about football excellence.
“If you close him down he takes you on one-on-one out wide. He opens doors and to win here you have to play the perfect game.
“Nonetheless, it is a step forward for us in finding new ways to play,” he concluded.
