Barcelona fell to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Girona on Monday night, leaving the Spanish champions trailing Real Madrid by two points at the top of LaLiga.
Girona ended the game with 10 men when Joel Roca scythed down Lamine Yamal to cut short a desperate Barcelona attack deep in stoppage time.
Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad on Saturday to overtake the Catalans and Hansi Flick’s side could not defeat Girona in a gripping derby clash to reclaim the lead.
Yamal missed a penalty for Barcelona, who took the lead through defender Pau Cubarsi just before the hour mark.
However goals from Thomas Lemar and Fran Beltran helped Girona, 12th, mount an impressive comeback.
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Flick said: “In the end, Girona deserved it; they had a lot of chances, we defended very badly.
“We are not in a good mood, not in a good moment. Igave the team two days off because I think it’s important they reset.
“There’s a long way to go; we’re now in second, now we have to fight for first place in the table.”
Barcelona were still licking their wounds after a heavy 4-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey first-leg semi-final last week, and this defeat made things even worse.
Cubarsi said: “We have to improve because they can’t score these two goals against us.
“We have to be self-critical, we didn’t play a great game, we have to improve, but now we have to rest and charge our batteries.”
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