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An angry Gerard Pique was spotted raging at his Barcelona teammates in the closing stages of Sunday evening’s crucial 3-2 La Liga win over Valencia at Mestalla.
The visitors had looked set for a comfortable victory after Lionel Messi scored his second of the match to make it 3-1 on 69 minutes. However, Carlos Soler struck a fabulous goal for Valencia with seven minutes of normal time remaining to set up a nervy finale.
Television cameras then captured Pique screaming at his fellow defenders after Soler’s goal had gone in, as reported by AS. In the 89th minute, he was heard shouting, “We do not give two passes! Two f***ing passes! It is impossible to win! We do not fight even when they steal the ball!”
Left-back Jordi Alba ended up trying to calm Pique down and told the 34-year-old his rant was not helping. Barcelona did hold on for the win to close the gap on league leaders Atletico Madrid to just two points with four games remaining.
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Barca Bounces Back
There is no doubt it was a tense finish against Valencia, and Pique’s frustrations may well have stemmed from Thursday’s disappointing defeat to Granada. The Catalan giants threw away a 1-0 lead to go down 2-1 at home to Diego Martinez’s side.
It was a costly defeat for Barca who would have gone top of the table with a win. However, Jorge Molina’s 79th-minute strike handed Granada a first-ever victory at the Camp Nou.
The result against Granada meant the pressure was on Barcelona again at Valencia where Ronald Koeman’s men managed to keep the pressure on Atletico and Real Madrid in the hunt for the title.
Gabriel Paulista actually put Valencia ahead, but two goals from Messi and an Antoine Griezmann strike helped the visitors secure an important away win. Next up for Barcelona is another crucial match against Atletico at the Camp Nou on Saturday.
Pique Admits Barca ‘Suffered’ Against Valencia
Pique spoke to reporters after the game and admitted Valencia had made his team suffer after Soler had smashed a ferocious effort past goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The center-back voiced his frustration at some of the goals his team has conceded in recent games as well as their inability to kill games off when they have dominated possession, as reported by Diario Sport.
“We were able to come through a really difficult fixture. We knew there weren’t going to be any easy games. The golazo from Soler meant we suffered late on,” he said. “Recently, the opposition are having fewer shots but they’re all going in. We need to analyze it. We would like to kill games earlier.”
The Barca defense has been guilty of poor errors throughout the season which have cost the team important points. The Catalan giants will know they must tighten up at the back if they are to take all three points against Atletico on Saturday.
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