Barcelona: Ronald Koeman denies Barcelona's performance is lagging because Lionel Messi is missing. Koeman's remark came after Eiber held Barca for a 1-1 draw on Tuesday night. Messi was sidelined from the game with an ankle injury.
Koeman noted the hosts had many chances, including Martin Braithwaite's penalty in the first half, that resulted in nothing and simply they failed to capitalise on their opportunities.
Koeman also admitted that it is "very difficult" for his side to win this season's La Liga.
"I am realistic, it will be very difficult to be champions. Nothing is impossible, but you have to acknowledge the gap. Atletico look very good to me, very strong, they don't concede many goals," Koeman was quoted as saying.
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Barcelona currently hold the sixth position on the La Liga table with 25 points, seven points shy of joint-leaders Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
During the match, Kike scored the opening goal, putting Eibar ahead in the 57th minute. However, ten minutes later, Ousmane Dembele scored an equaliser and the match concluded on the same.
Koeman feels it was the individual errors that cost them the points.
"You cannot say Barca play better without Messi. He is a different player. In general terms, we played well. But individual errors cost us the points," he said.
"We deserved to win, we did what was needed. [Eibar] only had one shot on goal. We created chances, but we didn't score the penalty and then a defensive error... we played well, we worked hard and did enough to win, but this is happening to us far too often," Koeman added.
