Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 10y

Luis Enrique defends players, claims blame for Barcelona's defeat

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique took the blame on himself after his side conceded their first goals and suffered the first defeat of his reign in Tuesday's 3-2 Champions League Group F game at the Parc des Princes.

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Barca conceded twice from set pieces in the first half, with David Luiz and Marco Verratti taking advantage of lax defending, either side of Lionel Messi scoring a superb goal to bring the visitors temporarily level.

Blaise Matuidi made it 3-1 after the break, and although Neymar soon got one back for Barca, the Ligue 1 champions' defence held out through late pressure for the victory.

The blaugrana coach said in his post-match news conference that a draw might have been a fair result, but Barca had suffered while making errors in their hardest game of the new campaign so far.

"The explanation is very clear," Luis Enrique said. "We found an opponent at the same level as ourselves, who overcame our pressure. It was not as good as we expected.

"We had clear chances at the end and could have equalised. I am not saying the result was unfair, but a draw would have been just, too."

Barca had not conceded at all in their first seven games this term, however here they conceded three times in Europe for the first time since December 2008.

Barca's continuing issues at dead balls were shown in the first half when Luiz outmuscled Javier Mascherano to turn and finish smartly to the net for the opener, and tiny midfielder Verratti took advantage after goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen and Ivan Rakitic both misjudged the flight of a corner.

Asked about the displays of Ter Stegen, making his just his second Barca start, and his outdone defenders, Luis Enrique preferred to take the blame on his own shoulders.

"I do not judge individual aspects," he said. "The defeat is for everyone, for me first of all. I am the coach and the most responsible. I have seen my players with a good attitude. It has not been our best day. We will analyse what we did well and what we did badly."

During the first half, especially, Barca players including Dani Alves, Jordi Alba, Mathieu, Sergio Busquets and Rakitic all showed a tendency to lose possession in their own half. Luis Enrique said this inability to overcome their opponent's pressure in dangerous areas, not the issues at set-pieces, was his primary concern.

"In this game, you pay for errors, especially when bringing ball out from defence, and they lead to the set pieces," he said. "We knew about that. Sometimes it is unavoidable, this is a game of mistakes. It is not easy, but we knew that."

The former Barcelona midfielder pointed out that the Ligue 1 champions are a top side, and one of the contenders to lift this season's trophy, even if they had been missing stars including Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi.

"PSG are at the same level as us. They are another team who are aiming to win the Champions League," Luis Enrique said. "Even without Lavezzi and Ibrahimovic they have international players of a very high level. We knew it would be a competitive game."

Ajax's 1-1 draw at APOEL in the group's other game means that Barca are now second in the table and still well placed to qualify, Luis Enrique said.

"Ajax drawing is good news for us," he said. "We are still second in the group, but we know it will not be easy to play in Cyprus or against Ajax, or against PSG at the Camp Nou. This is a game of surprises."

The previously in-form Rakitic had a difficult evening and was withdrawn midway through the second period, with veteran midfielder Xavi Hernandez sent on to rescue the situation, making his record 143rd Champions League appearance in the process. Alves was also replaced by young attacker Sandro Ramirez, but without success.

"Xavi gave us another option in the play," Luis Enrique said. "The last change was to have even more options in attack."

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