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ATLÉTICO 1-0 BARCELONA

Koeman horrified by worrying defending as Barcelona confirm Pique knee sprain

Atlético Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0 on Saturday night, leaving Ronald Koeman not too happy by his team's defending of Yannick Carrasco's decisive goal.

Update:
Koeman horrified by worrying defending as Barcelona confirm Pique knee sprain
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Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman expressed concern at how his team defended in the move that led to Atlético Madrid's winning goal in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Barça travelled to Madrid having won only one of their previous five LaLiga matches, a run of results that already had them playing catch-up in the table. Defeat – their third in a little over a month – means they could end the weekend in the bottom half of the table, with the Blaugrana seemingly struggling to recover from a tumultuous pre-season off the pitch. 

Carrasco winner

The solitary goal conceded against Atlético came at the end of the first half when Gerard Piqué – who was later substituted with a nasty-looking knee injury – failed to cut out Ángel Correa's pass, and Yannick Carrasco skipped past the stranded Marc-Andre ter Stegen before slotting into an empty net from 35 yards.

"It is worrying," Koeman told Movistar afterwards. "For a big team, conceding a goal like this ... it can't be, because it's the 47th minute, we had the ball and then they score, 1-0. We controlled and we knew that it was difficult to create many chances. We had a pair and with the score 0-0, the game would have been totally different [if they had taken either chance]. Like any coach, I am responsible for the team's results."

Although the campaign is still in its early stages, Atlético's win saw them go nine points clear of Barcelona. Koeman recognised it as a significant gap to bridge and is demanding a streak of wins from his men in response.

"It's a pretty big difference, but there is a lot of the league left and a lot of games," he continued. "We know that every match is complicated, but after this defeat we have to chain an important winning streak. I have seen a team that has fought until the last second to been able to level the game, so in this sense I am not worried."

Barça confirmed after the match that Piqué "had sustained a knee sprain" though further tests are required to determine the extent of the injury.