Barcelona ace delivers verdict on first loss of the campaign: “Worst game of the season” | OneFootball

Barcelona midfielder Pedri has reflected on the club’s first loss of the season against Monaco, acknowledging that the team faced a tough challenge, particularly after receiving an early red card.

Despite being down to ten players for the majority of the match, Pedri took pride in how the team responded, managing to create several opportunities despite the numerical disadvantage.

He highlighted that playing with one less player for an extended period is never easy, and when the result doesn’t go your way, it naturally feels like the worst match of the season.

“Despite the early red card, I’m left with the fact that the team stood up to the challenge and created chances with ten players,” said the midfielder as reported by Mundo Deportivo.

“It’s not easy to play so many minutes with one less player and if you don’t win, it’s the worst game of the season,” he added.

Pedri also addressed the unfortunate start to their Champions League campaign. While it was not the way they had hoped to kick things off, the new format of the competition offers Barcelona seven more matches to rectify the situation.

“It’s not the way we wanted to start the Champions League, but the new format gives us seven games to turn it around.”

Eric Garcia’s red card

Eric Garcia received a red card against Monaco. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

Discussing the incident that led to Eric Garcia’s red card, Pedri explained that it was the result of a miscommunication between himself and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

He acknowledged that such mistakes can occur during a fast-paced match but stressed the importance of moving on from it and ensuring they avoid similar errors in future games.

“It was a communication error between the two of us, it can happen, we have to move forward and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he added.

Despite the exhaustion of playing the majority of the match with fewer players, Pedri is confident that Barcelona will be prepared for their upcoming clash against Villarreal.

“With one less player we have run three times as much and we have to recover, I’m sure that on Sunday we will be fine.”

On Ansu Fati’s return

Ansu Fati made a much-awaited return for Barcelona. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

One bright spot for Pedri during the match was the return of Ansu Fati. After nearly two years without playing in a Champions League fixture, Ansu made his much-anticipated return, and Pedri was quick to congratulate him.

Pedri expressed his admiration for Ansu and firmly believes that his teammate will perform exceptionally well in the coming matches.

“I congratulated Ansu on his return, I have a lot of respect for him and he’s going to do very well,” he concluded.

Though the defeat stung, Pedri remains positive about the team’s ability to bounce back. With key players returning and the season still early, Barcelona has time to find their rhythm and recover from this initial setback.