We had time to recover – Suarez not blaming Barcelona loss on PSG exploits

Barcelona striker Luis Suarez says the shock LaLiga defeat to Deportivo La Coruna cannot be blamed on the club’s exploits against Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week.

Luis Enrique’s men lost 2-1 at the Riazor on Sunday, four days after stunning the football world by recording the biggest comeback in Champions League history against PSG.

Suarez was Barca’s scorer against Depor, but saw his side fall to defeat, ending a streak that had seen them go unbeaten in the previous 72 matches he had found the net in, across all competitions. 

But Suarez insists tiredness cannot be blamed despite the herculean effort against PSG and vowed not to let Barca’s focus on retaining the LaLiga title slip over their final 11 matches.

“Nothing happened [after playing PSG], we had plenty of rest days to recover,” Suarez, who now has 21 LaLiga goals this season, told reporters after the match. 

“We will not lose our focus on the fight for LaLiga, it is still there for us and we will not lower our aims. We will keep fighting.”

10 – Luis Suarez has been involved in 10 goals in his last three games against Deportivo in La Liga (6 goals and 4 assists). Beast. pic.twitter.com/RJEtJa7aOm

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 12, 2017

He continued: “Depor are fighting relegation and we knew it would be very difficult. When you give them a chance, they don’t forgive you.

“They pressured us and marked tightly but there are things we must improve, just like the other day. Sometimes you win, here we lost.

“I think we lost our focus for a few minutes in the first half and football can be like that.” 

Barca could now lose top spot in LaLiga to Real Madrid later on Sunday when their rivals – who sit just one point behind with two games in hand – take on Real Betis at Santiago Bernabeu.