By Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
Barça lost the first Clásico of the season (92-101) despite a hard-fought final quarter, after trailing throughout, and couldn’t keep up with Real Madrid‘s superb offensive pace.
Joan Penarroya spoke about the match in the post-game press conference, discussing the severity of the defeat and the team’s performance.
As he said: “We started the game poorly, particularly defensively. Against such a powerful opponent, you have to be careful. They dominated with their physicality. We should have been a bit more physical on defense. We have to improve. They are certainly stronger and bigger than we are, but if they play like this, we have to be more aggressive than we were today. Against an opponent like this, we probably can’t compete by simply having the same physical strength; we have to find other ways to improve. Today, we didn’t do well enough, even though the team wanted it and showed desire. But we can’t be satisfied with this; we have to be better, and we will be.”
The game ended with a chorus of boos and some shouts calling for the club board to resign.
Penarroya added: “Nobody is happy; it wasn’t the game we wanted to play. But I repeat, the team wanted it, they fought until the end. It was a special day, with our fans at the Palau, so there’s nothing left to do but analyze and improve. They had a very good day, but we have to be more solid, play smarter, use our fouls, and not let them get overconfident.”