The loss to Real Madrid hurt Barcelona but the club is trying to stay optimistic.
Barcelona’s 2-0 loss to Real Madrid completely flipped the narrative for both teams. Coming into the match, it was Madrid who had everything to lose while Barcelona had the chance to deal a decisive blow in the title race.
By winning, Real Madrid are back atop the league standing with the Catalans one point behind. The doom and gloom that was following Los Blancos is now squarely on the backs of Barcelona.
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Despite the loss, both manager and players are outwardly expressing the belief that even though losing hurts, they are very much still in the title race.
"“Now they are a point ahead but there’s a long way to go with twists and turns,” Setién said.“During the first half we had the game under control, despite some imprecisions and (losses of the ball).”Source: Sport"
Frenkie de Jong said something similar after the game.
"“I think if we look at the last couple of games we can see an improvement. We’re on the right path, we have to keep improving, but we’re only a point behind, there are a lot of games left and we’ll fight until the end.”Source: Mundo Deportivo"
There are 12 games left to be exact. Twelve games in which the Blaugrana can no longer afford to drop any points. That’s the situation they have put themselves in by losing to Real Madrid.
Quique Setién and his team no longer have a margin for error. Perhaps a bit speculative, but he might be managing for his job in these next 12 games. The fact of the matter is the team is only showing marginal improvements with much of what was ailing them still prevalent.
Not to mention that there is still the return leg against Napoli pending.
Barca’s next game won’t be any easier as they take on Real Sociedad at home. La Real are an explosive team which can cause Barcelona problems.
Trying to stay optimistic after a Clasico loss is all well and good but now they need to follow it up with a win. The league might be over by next week should they fail to do so.