Luis Enrique warned Barcelona they “must clearly work on” killing games off before thinking about silverware after their narrow Copa del Rey progression.
Barca needed a late Lionel Messi free kick to overturn their 2-1 deficit against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday and reach the Copa quarter-finals, but Enrique made it clear his side had plenty of room for improvement, with the Coach also unhappy about their lack of “effectiveness” down the right.
“To tell you the truth, I see this version of Barca at the start of 2017 better than the one at the end of 2016,” he said after the game.
“We deserved to go through, but it’s clear that we’re not penalising our opponents enough at the moment.
“We conceded a goal from very little, and to top it off, we weren’t precise enough in the last few yards.
“In the build-up to Saborit’s goal, we weren’t attentive in our marking and it’s an aspect that we must clearly work on.
“MSN? We’re in a world of exaggerations and it seems that they’re always obliged to score. It’s ridiculous to question these three players.
“We were especially effective on the left wing, but ideally both wings should be operating so.
“The Copa? I’d prefer the ties to be single matches because they’d be much more spectacular.”
