Mansion Sports – Barcelona suffered their first defeat in twelve matches on Sunday after losing 2-1 to Real Sociedad in Donostia–San Sebastián.

This result reduced the Catalan club’s lead in the La Liga title race to one point, after Real Madrid secured a victory 24 hours earlier.

According to a report by Marca, Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick responded to the defeat. He admitted that he was satisfied with the team’s overall performance, but regretted the individual mistakes that occurred.

“I do not feel happy. I am disappointed, we had many clear chances and this result does not reflect what we showed on the pitch. However, I liked the way we played. We made mistakes in defense and we have to defend better. We were also unlucky in attack. We have to accept it. We have to focus on the next match, which is very important. Every three days there is always a match. Today we were unlucky.

“Our play was already good. In some situations we should have been able to defend better, but overall I feel satisfied. We have played very well over the last two weeks and we have to maintain that level. We must not focus on the referee. We will concentrate on the things we can improve.”

Flick Assesses the Lack of Communication with Gil Manzano

Flick also addressed the performance of referee Jesús Gil Manzano, who received criticism immediately after the match from Barcelona’s stand-in captain, Frenkie de Jong.

“That is what he said and I agree. I will not spend time or energy on that. I do not feel disappointed with the referee. Everyone has seen what happened. I will not waste energy on it. We focus on ourselves. We should have scored more goals because we had chances. We return home without any points.

“Before the match, I had already read comments regarding the referee. I always speak positively about them. However, Frenkie is right, he was calm. He is the captain. He was on the pitch, he wanted to speak to the referee, but he could not. Sometimes I also want to speak to the fourth official and cannot do so, and that has to be accepted. I do not know whether there is indeed a lack of communication with referees in Spain, but with Gil Manzano there was indeed a lack of communication.”