Luis Enrique: Football is fickle, you can win without hardly attacking

Luis Enrique was unimpressed with the way Valencia won, saying they barely attacked, and he also refused to criticise his players.

Two first half goals put Barcelona in trouble and although Lionel Messi scored in the second half, they could not mount a comeback, losing for three league games in a row for the first time in 13 years.

"The game started with the difficulties of the run that we are on, games from experience that are very difficult to play, to plan, but I think the team had a magnificent response," said Lucho. 

"The first-half was a complete performance, lots of clear chances and without the luck we need to put the game on track. We needed that start to the game and to get the first goal, but the when you see that dynamic and that you don't have luck in front of goal it is much more difficult.

"After the first goal, the second came just before half-time. At half-time we tried to look at the positives, which there were plenty of. I think in overall play we were much superior to Valencia in every aspect, apart from effectivness in both areas.

"I think we played a very good second-half, perhaps at the end with more head than heart but we still had five or six very clear chances and it wasn't to be. We miss out on three points which I think we deserved to win, but football is like this. 

"It is a fickle sport that allows you to win without barely attacking. You have to know how to lose when you lose and now we have a marvellous challenge, five games in which if we win them all we are champions. It is a unique challenge, difficult for the situation we are in."

When asked about the individual perfomances he said: "It's not a day to criticise the players, it's a day to praise them."