Midfielder and vice-captain Pedri has stated that Barcelona’s 4-1 defeat against Sevilla in the Spanish League was due to a lack of spirit in the defensive line. Speaking after the match, Pedri said that there were gaps in Barcelona’s defense that needed to be filled. “We didn’t know how to handle their man-to-man pressure with the ball. There was no spirit in our defensive line. We didn’t play as we should have. We lost this match because many things went wrong. Our performance was very poor. This is something we need to sit down and correct with the players and the coach. There’s a lot to improve. I’ve never had such a poor performance in my life,” Pedri said.
This defeat has left Barcelona two points behind the league leaders Real Madrid. Speaking to the media after the match, coach Hansi Flick said this was another result where Barcelona had to start from scratch. “My most disappointing match was the Champions League semi-final loss against Inter Milan last season. After that, I could say it’s this match. We couldn’t play at all. This result is another one where we need to start over,” the coach said.
Flick said that unlike the previous season, Barcelona hasn’t been able to show their former performance this season. He added that to change this, the entire team needs to work together after the national team matches. “Such results, in my opinion, are times when we should think about further improvements. We haven’t been able to play as we did last season yet. To return to the path of success, we need to do a lot of work,” Flick said. In this match, Barcelona conceded two more goals in the latter part of the game, after being down 2-1, along with Robert Lewandowski missing a penalty that could have equalized the score.
