Beaten Barca need another miracle
TURIN: Outgoing Barcelona coach Luis Enrique turned on his misfiring stars after “reliving a nightmare” with his side’s 3-0 humbling by Juventus in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.
A first-half double from Paulo Dybala and a second-half header from Giorgio Chiellini secured a win for the hosts on Tuesday to leave Barca with a mountain to climb in the April 19 return leg.
Barca produced the biggest Champions League comeback of all time in the last 16, overturning a 4-0 first leg deficit by scoring three times in a crazy final 10 minutes to beat the French champions 6-1.However, a downcast and visibly angry Enrique said he found it “harder to believe in a comeback” than even the night in Paris that precipitated his decision to step down at the end of the season eight weeks ago.
“The first-half was a disaster, like it was the third half of the PSG game,” said Enrique, who then took an out of character shot at the Barca players’ attitude.
“I haven’t been able to transmit my ideas well to my players because that was nothing like what I asked for. I feel very sad and impotent. What we saw was very serious.“The positioning with the ball is my responsibility, but without it the intensity
has to be different.”
ENRIQUE FRUSTRATED Enrique was filmed banging a table in his dugout in anger after watching a replay of Dybala’s second goal in the first 22 minutes.
In a recurring theme of Barca’s season Chiellini then exposed aweaknessfromsetpieces to add Juventus’ third just after half-time.
“Crucified,” ran the headline of Barca daily Sport alongside a picture of Enrique.
“Very sad. Very serious,” said the front cover of its rival Mundo Deportivo. Enrique’s announcement that he would not be renewing his contract a week after defeat in Paris appeared to have released the bubbling tension between players and coach as Barca’s improved form provoked dreams of the possibility of a second treble in three seasons .
Indeed, after Saturday’s 1-1 draw between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, Barca had the La Liga title race back in their own hands. However, they kicked off a disastrous three days with a shock 2-0 defeat at Malaga to once again hand Real the initiative in the title race in which Neymar saw his first red card for the club.Barca’s hopes of a third straight Spanish title depend on winning that match, but defeat in Turin was just a continuation of the Catalans’ poor away form this season.