What Messi, Suarez, Pique did after Barcelona’s Copa del Rey 2-1 defeat to Valencia
Barcelona front-runners, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique held a team examination inside the club’s bus after their Copa del Rey final 2-1 defeat to Valencia over the weekend.
First-half goals from Kevin Gameiro and Rodrigo ensured Marcelino Garcia’s side defeated Barcelona. However, Lionel Messi did score for Ernesto Valverde’s men. According to AS, Messi, Suarez and Pique immediately set out to seek answers after their latest shock defeat to Valencia just weeks after being humbled by Liverpool in the Champions League second leg semi-final encounter. The report claimed that Messi led the group that gathered to hold crisis talks on the back seats of the bus as it made its way from the Estadio Benito Villamarin Stadium in Seville to the airport. The report added that Suarez and Pique were also heavily involved in the discussions, which reportedly got so intense that partakers stayed on board to continue the debate even after they had arrived at the airport in Spain.
Pique over the weekend insisted that he and his teammates want manager, Ernesto Valverde to continue as the club’s coach despite Barca’s 2-1 defeat to Valencia in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday night. The defender also said that Valverde’s men will have to make an individual analysis following their defeat to Valencia. Pique told Teledeporte: “In the end, there are decisions that are not in our hands. This is something that we cannot control. But we would like him [Valverde] to continue, as we have already said. He did very well. We do not worry. We have to make individual analysis and of what we can improve.