Barcelona Manager Ronald Koeman has conceded that Barcelona may be out of the La Liga title race already.
Koeman was speaking after Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw by Eibar at the Nou Camp last night.
The result sees Barcelona in 6th position, 7 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, who also have two games in hand over the Catalans.
Barcelona were once again with Lionel Messi, who is carrying a slight ankle injury.
“If I’m realistic, the title is very complicated,” Koeman said after the game.
“Nothing is impossible, but you have to recognise the distance. Atletico seem to me to be very good, very strong. They don’t concede many goals.”
“We deserved to win, we did what we had to do. They only shot on goal once. We created chances, but we didn’t score the penalty and then made a mistake in defence. We did enough to win. This is happening many times.”
“I don’t want to say we lacked experience. There is a transition in the team. There are also injuries. We play with young players – today we had five or six – but we also had experience.”
“We lacked Leo, who makes a difference. But the feeling is still, how did we not win?
“We created many opportunities, missed a penalty, and gave away a goal.”
“It cannot be said that Barca play better without Messi, he is on another level. In general we played a good game, but individual mistakes have cost us points.”
