Key Barcelona duo pinpoint the reason for recent dip in form – ‘It’s down to us’

Barcelona have been going through a lean patch in terms of results in La Liga in recent weeks.

Indeed, having won 11 of their first 12 league games, the Blaugrana, who continue to remain at the top of the table, have been victorious in only one of their last six matches in the Spanish top flight.

Hansi Flick’s men have collected just five of the available 18 points in this run, losing back-to-back home matches to Las Palmas and Leganes.

Raphinha highlights reasons for Barcelona’s dip

Speaking to ESPN ahead of Barcelona’s clash against Atletico Madrid on Saturday, in-form forward and one of the team captains, Raphinha, discussed the recent run of form, pointing out fatigue and lack of concentration as the reasons for the dip.

“It’s down to us. We have been bad. We have dropped our level. Maybe we have lacked concentration in moments and it’s cost us,” said Raphinha.

“And tiredness as well. If I tell you we weren’t tired in certain games when we dropped points, I would be lying. So tiredness I think is the biggest factor, but we have also dropped our level,” he added.

However, the Brazilian international expressed optimism that Barcelona have what it takes to come out of the recent rut, as he said:

“Yes, [we will] come through this. I have a tattoo that says that ‘Everything passes,’ meaning the bad moments pass and the good ones, too, so it’s going to pass.

“We are doing good, we had a good moment [at the start of the season], entered a bad moment, and that will pass. That’s life. It’s how football is and life is also the same.”

On what he thinks would help Barcelona to end this streak of poor results, Raphinha added:

“What I think is we have to approach every game, every team, like the most powerful team in the world. If we did that, I think we would be much more focused, to defend together, attack together and more focused to score goals.

“If we go into every game thinking it is the most important, we will be better.”

Kounde agrees with Raphinha’s assessment

Meanwhile, Barcelona defensive mainstay Jules Kounde, who is the player to have played the most minutes in 2024, agreed with Raphinha’s assessment about the Catalans’ lack of concentration harming them.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” Kounde told ESPN. “We are just playing a little less good in every aspect of the game.

“We start with the pressure [not being as good], it’s also the focus, technically we are losing too many balls, especially in La Liga because we’ve been doing good in the Champions League.”

While giving credit to the opponents, the Frenchman insisted that the Barça are largely at blame for their issues.

“I would say it’s us most of the time. I give credit to the team who beat us or draw against us, but in every game, we had the chance to win it and we just didn’t play good enough or score our chances. It’s up to us to rectify it.”

However, the right-back expressed optimism about Barcelona’s chances against Atletico Madrid tomorrow, saying:

“We like these games [against teams like Atletico]. We’ve done great in these games, let’s say the big games, so far this season.”