Valverde: Messi and Pique didn't ask me for an explanation after the Roma loss

He discussed a Barcelona's tough week

Posted Saturday, April 14, 2018 by Marca.com

Barcelona's stars didn't ask coach Ernesto Valverde to explain himself after Tuesday's Champions League loss against Roma, the coach has claimed.

The former Athletic Club tactician answered questions ahead of Valencia's trip to the Camp Nou this weekend, but, unsurprisingly, much of the focus was on their stunning midweek European exit.

While he rubbished rumours about a confrontation with Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi, Valverde is already looking to find the positives from the loss.

"I have nothing to say about that [Messi and Pique asking for explanations] mostly because nothing like that happened," he said.

"The team have reacted well since the game.

"We are in a difficult moment, possibly our second worst of the season after August [and the Supercopa de Espana defeats].

"We lost and we're out of a competition that we were very excited about and do feel sorry for ourselves and the fans.

"But if we continue to dwell on that game and think about, we will keep losing.

"So now we have to work on our challenges for the season, which we haven't yet achieved."

When it comes to making changes and deciding what he would have done differently, Valverde admitted that it isn't something he wanted to think about at this time.

"I'd like what happened in Rome to be a positive, just like it was for in August when we were defeated," continued the Barcelona boss.

"That seemed like a catastrophe at the time, but we plugged ourselves in and pushed forward to put things right.

"Of course, I've been thinking about the game because that's what you have to do when you are a coach.

"It isn't worth saying what I would have done differently now.

"It is easy when you now the result, but you must think about these things before the game when you can influence it."

The weekend's clash with Valencia will take place at 16:15 CET on Saturday afternoon and could see Barcelona overtake Real Sociedad's unbeaten record.