A stunning Lionel Messi strike only just helped Barcelona salvage a shock 1-1 draw against Villarreal at the Estadio de le Ceramica.
According to ESPN, he said, “We don’t depend on ourselves in the league. But there’s still half of the season and more to go. So of course there’s time (for a reaction) and we have the opportunity to fight for (the title), but we depend on Madrid.”
This result leaves Barcelona third in the La Liga standings, a point behind Sevilla and 5 points behind rivals Real Madrid, who still have a game in hand. In his post match press conference, Enrique remained positive and insisted that there was still a long way to go.
The 46-year-old insisted that the only option available to his side was to win and keep winning, and hope that Madrid slip up over the course of the rest of the campaign. The former Roma boss went on to say that he believed his side deserved the victory, given the chances they made.
“We deserved the three points in terms of chances and in terms of play, but we’re not in a favourable dynamic,” he said. “We hit the post and we generated enough chances to win. I would like to say that Barcelona have played poorly, but that wasn’t even the case in Bilbao.”
In their first two games of the year, Barcelona have lost to Atletic Bilbao and have now drawn against Villarreal. The are currently on the back foot in the Copa del Rey and are now in a disastrous third position in the league, something that is unheard of at the Nou Camp.
Enrique remained positive however, going on to say, “They’ve been two satisfactory performances, but the results are bad. We have to enter another dynamic now. We have to keep improving. When you’re stuck in a dynamic like this you have to be stronger than ever. I have no doubts that we will come out of it.”
