Barcelona boss Luis Enrique: "Real Madrid deserved to win the Clasico"

Luis Enrique admitted that Real Madrid's success in Saturday's Clasico was completely deserved.

Neymar had given Barcelona an early lead, but goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Karim Benzema sent Barça to their first defeat of the la Liga season.

"We started well, with options to make it 2-0," Luis Enrique explained. 

"In the second it was a struggle, we made errors and our rival won in a completely deserved manner."

Barça's boss handed a debut to Luis Suarez, who had previously been unavailable due to a four month ban imposed by FIFA.

"I stand by the decision to start Suarez," Luis Enrique said about the call.

"He is an important player for us and knows all the mechanasims [of the team's play]."

Despite the defeat, Luis Enrique, who formerly played for Real Madrid, wanted to be positive about the season ahead.

"Defeats help a team to learn," he contined.

"I hope that [this result] will serve to rectify our errors and we look forward to the future."

With regards to the penalty, the Asturian had no problems with the hand ball given against Gerard Pique which allowed Ronaldo to equalise.

And having previously lost in Paris, this was now the second big game Barça have failed to win.

"We will value what we have done at the end of the season," Luis Enrique finished, refusing to slip into panic mode.

"Against PSG we deserved more, although against Madrid it was different, they deserved it much more."