19 December 2020

‘Not good enough’ – Ronald Koeman frustrated as Barcelona drop points again

19 December 2020

Ronald Koeman has admitted Barcelona’s 2-2 La Liga draw with Valencia was “not good enough”.

Lionel Messi equalled Pele’s record of 643 goals for a single club, heading home almost immediately after missing a penalty in first-half stoppage time.

Mouctar Diakhaby had put Valencia into the lead before Messi equalised, equalling the record that Pele had set across 19 years with Santos.

Ronald Araujo’s scissor-kick had Barcelona eyeing victory, only for Maxi Gomez to pounce with an equaliser to thwart the under-pressure hosts.

“First of all it was a difficult game, it was difficult at 1-0 down,” Koeman told Barcelona’s official club website.

“You score twice, you’re the winning team in the second half and you need to be a little bit more concentrated to see what will happen.

“We controlled the game, we had good opportunities to score the third, but then you have to understand maybe 2-1 is the maximum.

“One or two moments in the defensive way, not to have the full concentration in doing what we need to do at that point, and they scored the second one. And after that it was not good enough.”

The result left Barcelona trailing LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid by eight points.

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