Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique confident team can win remaining games

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said he remains confident his team can win the La Liga title despite their alarming slump continuing with Sunday evening's 2-1 home La Liga defeat to Valencia at the Camp Nou.

Barca began the game strongly but missed a number of clear chances, and by half-time Valencia were 2-0 up through Ivan Rakitic's own goal and Santi Mina's crisp strike.

Lionel Messi's 500th career goal halved the deficit, but a Los Che side that were beaten 7-0 just two months ago at the Camp Nou held on for victory, with emergency centre-forward Gerard Pique missing Barca's clearest chance to equalise.

After going six months and 39 games unbeaten in all competitions until their recent Clasico defeat to Real Madrid, the blaugrana outfit have now lost three straight La Liga games for the first time since 2003.

This run means that Barca's previous clear lead in the table has been wiped out -- they are now just ahead of Atletico Madrid due to a better head-to-head record, with in-form Real Madrid just one point behind in third place.

The blaugrana coach told his postmatch news conference that his team were capable of winning their five remaining games and ensuring they won the title.

"Three points for us would have been fair today, but this sport very capricious," Luis Enrique said. "We have to know how to lose when we lose. Our credit has been used up and we have five games now. We know if we win them we will be champions.

"It is a difficult challenge, the situation we are in. Fortune has not smiled on us. But now we must lift ourselves up. Tomorrow we will train, and prepare, we still depend on ourselves. We have a magnificent challenge which our team is up to. It is difficult."

Luis Enrique said he could not fault how his players had performed, as they had just lacked good fortune after playing very well despite having come into the game with doubts around the club considering their recent form.

"The game at the start had difficulties because of the run we were on," he said. "It was difficult but the team showed a magnificent response. We had many clear chances but lacked the fortune necessary.

"With our start we should have scored the opening goal, but Valencia had some luck, and then it was more difficult for us. We also played very well in the second half, maybe with more heart than head. We made plenty of clear chances, but it was not to be."

A midweek round of La Liga games now sees Barca go to mid-table Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday evening, when Atletico Madrid are at Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid host Villarreal.

Luis Enrique said that if his team kept their heads and played their usual style of football, they would come through this dip in results.

"We know it will be difficult to win in Depor, but we must play the same as we played today," he said. "Our fans are proud of the players in how they played today. If any team can do this, it is this Barca side.

"The team did not deserve to lose the games they have played. We will continue. We just lost two over whole [the] season, now have lost three in a row. Football brings lots of surprises. Today is not a day to criticise the players, but to praise them."

The 90 minutes brought no changes at all from the Barca bench, which featured full-backs Dani Alves, Douglas, Aleix Vidal and Adriano, center-back Marc Bartra, young forward Munir El Haddadi and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

"I did not make any changes as it would have [been] unfair on great game that my players were having," responded Luis Enrique, when it was suggested that he lacked confidence in possible replacements to his first choices.

"I am happy with the squad I have, but I decided not to change as we were superior. They are my decisions, I will keep taking them myself."

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