Ernesto Valverde Laments Barcelona Being in 'Too Much of a Hurry' in Frustrating Draw at Las Palmas

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has been left lamenting his team's haste to get the job done during Thursday night's clash with Las Palmas, with the Catalans ultimately held to another frustrating draw.

"We tried to rush things at times," Valverde admitted after the final whistle (FCBarcelona.com).

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Lionel Messi had given Barça a first half lead with a well taken free-kick, but Las Palmas equalised soon after the half-time break when Jonathan Calleri converted a penalty.

Barça have now drawn three of their last five La Liga games, dropping six points in the process. With Atletico Madrid putting a string of wins together behind, the lead at the top now stands at five points with 12 games each left to play.

"The penalty hurt because of how it happened," Valverde remarked, referring to the confusion that erupted when the spot-kick was awarded. It wasn't clear if the referee was blowing his whistle for an alleged foul from Sergi Roberto or a possible handball from Lucas Digne.

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"We felt that they equalised with an 'invisible' penalty. They grew stronger after that and we played in too much of a hurry," the coach is further quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

"We really wanted to leave here with three points. In the first half we felt we were always creating danger and their players kept on picking up yellow cards. We went ahead in the first half but it was not a big enough margin."

While still unbeaten in the league this season, Barça will be desperate to return to winning ways when they host Atletico at Camp Nou on Sunday in a huge game. The 2013/14 champions have won eight straight league games and would cut the gap to just two points if they can continue that run and inflict Barça's first league defeat of the season.