We aren´t at Liverpool´s pre-season level – Luis Enrique

Luis Enrique is unconcerned by his Barcelona side’s 4-0 International Champions Cup defeat to Liverpool, citing a lack of fitness and prior preparation for their failings.

Despite fielding the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, the Catalan giants were made to look ordinary by a Liverpool team that worked incredibly hard and bustled with energy due to being further down their pre-season calendar.

With the Supercopa de Espana coming up soon, coach Luis Enrique was keen to write the Wembley result off as just another friendly, but knows that improvement will not come without hard work.

“From the beginning it was two teams with totally different [pre-season] momentum, it was clear from the very start of the game,” Enrique explained at a post-match press conference.

“It definitely wasn’t our best day, we made a number of mistakes, especially for the first goal.

“After the first goal, there were a number of chances that we had, a lay-off for Luis [Suarez] from Arda [Turan]. I think the two earlier goals in the second half decided the match.

“What you saw were two teams at different stages [of pre-season], with a different amount of training sessions and matches, today I was able to give some minutes to some reserve players. The good thing is that they are all healthy physically and it was good to keep our pre-season going.

“There are enough days for us to prepare, and there is no doubt that we will be competitive, given the difference in fitness levels this is the type of result that you will see.”