Andres Iniesta claims Teams Poor Performance due to some Tactical Issues

Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta claims that the team was let down by a few tactical mistakes in the 2-1 loss against Real Madrid.

The Catalan club surrendered their 39 match unbeaten record as a result of this defeat. More importantly, it may have just given Madrid belief that they can still win the league title is though they are seven points behind. Coming into the match, Barcelona had a 10 point advantage over their arch rivals. Iniesta played the full 90 minutes against Madrid. This was the second consecutive game in which Barcelona have failed to win in the league.

Atletico have been able to reduce the deficit at the top to just six points while Madrid are a further point behind. Iniesta may no longer be one of the decisive players in front of goal, but he remains a key member of the squad nonetheless. The 31-year-old has scored only one league goal in 21 appearances this season. Despite having featured against Madrid, he is expected to start against Atletico in the Champions League quarter-finals. Against their arch rivals, Barcelona dominated the game in terms of possession. Things look good when they took the lead through Gerard Pique in the second half, but Karim Benzema came up with an equaliser soon.

Cristiano Ronaldo then scored the winner before Madrid were reduced to 10 men following the red card to Ramos.”I don’t believe [the defeat] was due to physical issues. It is a conjunction of things. At 1-0 we lacked more control and positioning. We were caught many times on the break, and these actions are very dangerous.It is not really a physical issue, more about our positioning and inability to read the game at 1-0 or 1-1. This is part of football, mistakes happen. It is a defeat and we must move on, there’s no other option,” said Iniesta.