Benfica Loan Star Dismisses Criticisms From Time at Barcelona & Insists He Blocked it All Out

Benfica full-back Douglas has opened up about the criticism he faced whilst at parent club Barcelona.

The 27-year-old is still a Blaugrana player, but was sent out on loan to the Portuguese outfit in the summer after failing to make his mark over the past three seasons since his arrival.

The €4m signing from Sao Paolo might have been harshly treated having made just eight appearances in total during that period of time, but he has given an interview to Record to say dismiss the treatment from the Spanish press in particular.

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He said, as quoted by Sport: "To be honest, I didn't give it a lot of time because I try to focus on my job. From the moment we begin to give these things importance, the head stops functioning in the same way.

"Whether we want to know about them or not, we learn about these things through the people that work with us. But this is football. It's something which you have to take on.

"From the moment you start working in the world of football, you're exposed to that sort of thing. What you have to do is not let it affect you on the pitch and work hard to turn the situation around."

Douglas, who has won six honours with the Catalan giants to date, will now be looking to show the club that he deserves more game time.