Barca Coach Blames First-Half Display for Juventus Defeat

Following their 3-0 stunning defeat to Juventus on Tuesday night, Barcelona Boss Luis Enrique has blamed their poor first-half showing for the loss. Enrique, whose side have come back from a seemingly inevitable exit once in this season’s Champions League, added that his team were better in the second half, but could not reply the already-conceded goals as they concede another. “We put in a really bad first half. In the second half we were even the better team but we conceded the third,” said Enrique after the match. Paulo Dybala scored twice for Juventus, who have now taken charge of the quarter-final tie. The Argentine forward curled home both of his goals before the break, the first in the 7th minute from an angle inside the box, and the second in the 22nd minute from a central position on the edge.

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            Giorgio Chiellini then showed strength and guile as he steered home a header from a corner early in the second half to give his side a dominant lead into the second leg. For the second European round running, Barca, who did a comeback after losing 4-0 to Paris St-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 tie, must come back from the heavy away defeat to progress to the semis. “Of course we are very happy but it is not finished yet. We know what they did against Paris and we have to not do that,” Juventus midfielder, Miralem Pjanic, said after the win. “We will see in the second game. The team in this first game played very well but we have to be careful. Barcelona have great players and we have to play the same game – try and score a goal.”

The return leg will be payed at Camp Nou on April 19.