Kolkata: Barcelona midfielder, Sergio Busquets came out in support of teammate Gerard Pique, after the club’s general manager Pep Segura had blamed the defender’s own goal against Real Madrid as the ‘decisive’ factor that ‘changed the game completely.’
Segura on Tuesday had claimed that Gerard Pique’s own goal was the main reason behind Barcelona’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Real Madrid in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup at Camp Nou.
However, Sergio defended his club and national teammate Pique and pointed out that it was wrong of the manager to lash out at a player in public for the heavy defeat.
“It was an unlucky incident. The play (referring to Pique’s own goal) was bad luck. We lost 3-1 because we committed some errors and they were very good when it came to finishing,” told Busquets.
“We didn’t lose because of a single piece of play. It’s not the best way to express yourself and even less so from within the club , aimed at a player,” he added.
Talking about the match he said, “We had a good first half, but after their goal we opened up and we couldn’t change things even with the equaliser. They had space and on the counter-attack, they’re almost unstoppable.”
Busquets also added that the club needed to make more signings, especially after the loss of Neymar, who was bought by PSG for €222 million.
He said, “With Neymar’s exit, the team have lost something attacking-wise. That’s obvious .”
“We will have to have more attacking players who can carry the weight of the game. Neymar’s exit can’t be an excuse,” the Spanish player added.
Barcelona, who were widely expected to bring in a suitable replacement of Neymar, completed the signing of another Brazilian, Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao for a reported fee of €40 million.
The signing of the 29-year old midfielder has been criticized more rather than welcomed but despite that, Busquets was optimistic about the performance of the Brazilian and hoped that he (Paulinho) will live up to his abilities.
“He has a different profile. He can contribute a lot because he’s first choice for Brazil. He will bring a lot to us and we welcome him with open arms,” said the midfielder in a press conference on Tuesday.
(With inputs from Sportskeeda)