Barcelona coach Luis Enrique admits his side were far from their best in their opening Uefa Champions League group stage win over APOEL Nicosia at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Defender Gerard Pique’s header on 28 minutes guided the Catalans to a narrow win on Enrique’s European championship debut since assuming leadership at the 2013 La Liga runners-up.
“We found it hard to make the right choices over the final metres,” said Luis Enrique.
“We have great, quality players but we didn’t get through on goal for a variety of reasons. We weren’t at our best over the final metres. We weren’t moving the ball around fast enough.”
The coach made nine changes from the side which beat Athletic Bilbao last weekend, but was less impressed by their struggle to finish off some clear-cut chances against the Cypriot outfit.
“Perhaps our play was less fluid because of all the rotations, but I’m sticking to my guns. I need my whole team, although I’m sure I’ll get it wrong sometimes. We can’t always win 3-0 or 4-0, but I have blind faith in my players.
“We managers worry when things don’t go to plan. These aren’t easy games, Apoel played a serious game. We’ll be showing the players what they need to get better. We can’t settle for this, we have to play better. I am sure we can make even better players of the players we have.”
