Athletic Bilbao’s forward Aritz Aduriz completed a hat-trick against Barcelona to guide his team to a 4-0 win in the first leg. PHOTO: AFP
An under-strength Barca side were torn apart by Athletic on Friday as Mikel San Jose’s stunning opener and a second-half hat-trick from Aritz Aduriz put them on the verge of a first trophy in 31 years.
“If there is anyone who can turn this around it is Barca. We will wait till Monday and will give everything we have,” said Enrique.
The European champions lifted their fourth trophy of the year earlier in the week, but were equally as shambolic in defence as they threw away a 4-1 lead before overcoming Sevilla 5-4 in extra time.
It is the first time in 14 years that Barca have conceded four times in two consecutive games and comes as even more of a shock as it took 13 games for the Catalans to concede eight times last season.
“It worries me that we are conceding so many goals,” added Enrique. “We will analyse it and try to correct it. Football is a game of errors. Curiously, we have gone from being the team that it is hardest to score against to conceding easily.”
Having played 120 minutes in the searing heat of the Georgian capital Tblisi on Tuesday, Enrique had opted to rest a number of his star names from the start in Bilbao.
Barca also recently completed a gruelling pre-season tour in the US and have a host of players returning from international duty at the Copa America.
However, Enrique refused to blame his side’s punishing schedule as an excuse for their lacklustre performance.
“We came from competing barely three days ago. I made a lot of changes to the starting 11 and I accept the responsibility as always,” said Enrique. “I believe I had to protect the players. This isn’t the point of the season to burden some players with 120 minutes.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2015.
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