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Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has said that winning the title this season will be “very difficult” after his team lost more points in a 1-1 draw at home with Eibar. Barça suffered the absence of the injured Lionel Messi, as Martin Braithwaite missed a penalty for the hosts.
“If I’m realistic, the title is very complicated,” Koeman said after the result left Barça sixth in the standings, seven behind league leaders Atlético de Madrid, who have two games ahead. “Nothing is impossible, but you have to recognize the distance. Atlético seems very good to me, very strong. They don’t concede many goals ”.
Eibar took the lead in the 57th minute when striker Kike García pounced on a flagrant defensive error by young Barça defender Ronald Araújo. Substitute Ousmane Dembélé got the tie 10 minutes later, but the hosts couldn’t find a winner.
“We deserved to win,” Koeman said. “We did what we had to do. They only shot on goal once. We created chances, but we didn’t score the penalty and then we made a mistake on defense. We did enough to win. This is happening a lot.”
Messi flew out of Argentina early Tuesday but had to watch from the stands at Camp Nou as he is still recovering from an ankle problem. While his team played well at spells without him, they lacked the cutting edge he so often provides.
The most flagrant example came just after eight minutes, when the VAR sanctioned Barça for a foul on Araújo. Braithwaite took the lead in Messi’s absence but fired wide. The Danish forward thought he had atoned for himself with a goal 20 minutes later, but that was nullified for offside.
The Catalans dominated the first half but wasted scoring chances and were punished in the second half after a lack of concentration by Araújo. The Uruguayan central defender was assaulted near the midline by Kike, who ran towards the goal and kept his cool to beat goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen.
Dembélé tied 10 minutes later, shooting into the far corner with a first shot after a cut by Junior Firpo to complete an excellent team play. Braithwaite missed the best chance for both sides to win the match, the ball bouncing off his chest on the rebound and twisting wide.
“We were missing Leo, who makes the difference,” Koeman concluded. “It cannot be said that Barça plays better without Messi. It is on another level. In general we played a good game, but individual mistakes have cost us points ”.
Elsewhere, Seville hit Villarreal 2-0 at home to climb to fourth place. Lucas Ocampos’ early penalty put Julen Lopetegui’s team ahead, and Youssef En-Nesyri’s goal in the second half secured all three points. I raised eased their relegation fears with a dramatic 4-3 home win over Manuel Pellegrini Real Betis.
