Lionel Messi Urges Barcelona to Improve Defensively
Lionel Messi has called on his Barcelona team to improve defensively after his side's 1-1 draw with Atheltic Bilbao at Camp Nou on Saturday.
The draw now means that after winning their opening four games of the La Liga season, La Blaugrana has now gone three games without a win after draws against Girona and Bilbao on top of a shock defeat to Leganes.
The club remains level on points with rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, however it missed a golden opportunity to pull away from them following Madrid's poor run of form which has run simultaneously with Barca's.
Speaking to BeIN Sport via Marca after the recent draw, Messi admitted he didn't expect his side's recent run of results and called for stronger defensive displays from Barcelona.
He said: "There isn't any anxiety because the season has just started and it is a long year ahead.
"We didn't expect the recent results but in this game, we created situations to win and we couldn't manage to do it. We must be stronger defensively, we have come from a year that it was tough (to score against us) and now it is taking the minimum to do it.
"It can't happen that we concede goals in every game, we must improve and become strong in the defensive area because that is the most important thing."
It's been a shaky start to the season for the reigning La Liga champions and reflecting on the game, Messi admitted his side didn't do enough to win the match, however is looking now looking ahead towards their Champions League clash with Tottenham on Wednesday.
He added: "I think that we put in a performance that could have won us the game and in the first half had many clear chances to go ahead. But then we went 1-0 down and things got very complicated which is a shame.
"Now, we must carry on and look forward because we have a tough game coming up on Wednesday. It is a very difficult group so we know we have to be at our best and move forward with calmness."
After winning their Champions League opener 4-0 against PSV Eindhoven, Barca will be looking to make it two in two on Wednesday as it looks to secure its first win in four games in all competitions.
