Luis Enrique gallant in defeat and optimistic for the future

Despite defeat in the Spanish Super Cup, the FC Barcelona manager is confident that the fans are going to have a lot of reasons to celebrate as the season progresses

Bartomeu felt Barça 'deserved more'

Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu admitted that it hurt to miss out on the Spanish Super Cup, but thanked the players for giving it their almighty best. “They played top quality football and deserved much more than a draw” he said after the match. “But now we need to think about the league. We have to keep fighting. We’re a great team and we showed that today.”

Luis Enrique Martínez has missed out on his first title since becoming manager of FC Barcelona, but he does not in any way feel that his players have let him down. “I think they played very well” he said in his post-match press conference. “They got Athletic doubting and I could see our opponents were starting to worry. That’s we were after in this game. We competed and made a huge effort.”

“But it all ended when Gerard Piqué was sent off” he admitted. “I can only say well done to Athletic for such a fine performance. Sometimes it’s good to lose in order to appreciate how hard it is to win.”

After such a hectic week, with two Super Cup trophies at stake, FC Barcelona now need to switch their attention to the league. “The team is united and competitive” said the first team manager. “There is a very tough league campaign ahead of us. We want to keep bringing joy to the fans and we want to carry on being a team that sets standards around the world.”

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