Luis Enrique rues Barcelona's injury ill fortune with Ivan Rakitic loss
ByReuters
Updated 05/11/2015 at 09:59 GMT
Ivan Rakitic's calf injury was typical of Barcelona's bad run with injuries this season, coach Luis Enrique said after the Croat limped off in Barca's 3-0 Champions League victory over BATE Borisov on Wednesday.
Barcelona's Spanish coach Luis Enrique sits during a press conference at the Sports Center FC Barcelona Joan Gamper
Image credit: AFP
Luis Enrique's side has struggled with injuries this season, with Lionel Messi and Rafinha still sidelined while Andres Iniesta started his first match against BATE since picking up an injury at the end of September.
Rakitic will also be a doubt now for the El Clasico with Real Madrid on November 21.
"We have not had much luck with injuries and we want to have him back as soon as possible," the coach told a news conference. "He is definitely going to miss the Villarreal game and then we will see how it goes.
"The priority is not that he is ready for a specific game but that he recovers properly. He is an important loss as the match against Villarreal is more than difficult."
Luis Enrique was happy with the side's performance against BATE especially in the second half when Neymar and Luis Suarez wrapped up the scoring following the Brazilian's opener from the penalty spot after 30 minutes.
"Generally I think we played well, obviously we could have been better and a lot worse," he said.
"Maybe we lacked better link-up play in the final third but at the same time the opposition did not cause us problems.
"We played better in the second half where we were moved the ball around well and put them under a lot of pressure."
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