Quique Setien Admits Barcelona’s Sharpness Declining

DBasia.news – Barcelona manager, Quique Setien admitted that his team are losing their sharpness after not playing for three months due to the Corona virus pandemic suspension.

The Blaugrana needed a last-minute goal from substitute player Ivan Rakitic to defeat Athletic.

Despite recording a third victory in the last four matches, Barca again failed to shine.

“When the team offers you a small opportunity then you have to be very thorough and agile, and we have lacked it since we came back,” Setien said in a virtual press conference.

“It’s not easy and we lose a bit of brilliance. Our opponents have a lot to do because they are compact and don’t create gaps and we have trouble opening them up.”

“But I think we will find this even easier as the season continues.”

Barcelona were able to beat Real Mallorca 4-0 at the start of their return after a long pause, but were somewhat worse in the 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Leganes and were held to a 0-0 draw by Sevilla so that Real Madrid overtook them at the top of the standings.

Victory over Athletic puts Barca three points ahead of Real Madrid but Zinedine Zidane’s team will return to the top of the table if they defeat Real Mallorca on Thursday morning.

Setien was not satisfied with the way his team started the match against Athletic but praised young players Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati for opening up defenses when they were included as substitutes.

“We became more relaxed in the second half and played a lot better. Ansu and Riqui gave us dynamics and made us longer to master the ball,” concluded Setien.