LALIGA
Striker Luis Suarez has said that Barcelona have a “tough year ahead” after their worst league start for 25 years.
Ernesto Valverde’s side, champions of Spain in four of the last five seasons, suffered their second defeat of the campaign against Granada on Saturday to drop to seventh in the table.
A return of seven points from five games is their worst since the 1994-95 season under Johan Cruyff.
“It’s a worrying defeat, a defeat that hurts,” Suarez told AS.
“And it’s a defeat that we have to take a real good look at. There are lots of things that we have to improve.
“There’s a long way to go yet, but these are the types of games that win you the title.
“We have to be tougher if we’re going to win the league. We have a tough year ahead of us.”
Barcelona have particularly struggled away from home, without a league win on the road since April, and failed to score in six of their last seven La Liga away games.
They managed just one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes against Granada, despite the second-half introduction of Lionel Messi for his first league appearance of the season after recovering from an ankle injury.
Suarez says his side need to change their approach to away matches in order to be more of an attacking threat.
“What we have to look at is the way we’re playing as the away side, because the lack of cutting edge and chances is worrying,” Suarez added.
“We’re Barcelona, and we have to go out there to win the game – we can’t start the way we did.”
