Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique has conceded that his team still had the Champions League on their mind when they lost 2-1 at Deportivo La Coruna in La Liga on Saturday afternoon.
Barcelona's hopes of retaining the Spanish title took a hit after suffering a narrow defeat in La Coruna, with Alex Bergantinos scoring a winner for the home side in the 74th minute.
Pique has admitted that it was "always going to be hard to compete" against Deportivo after putting so much into last week's Champions League last-16 second leg with Paris Saint-Germain, which Barcelona won 6-1 to make the quarter-finals.
"Everybody in Catalonia would have taken us coming back against Paris Saint-Germain and then losing to Depor," Pique told reporters. "We will continue fighting to the end and there is a lot of La Liga still to be played.
"We have many options to win the league. This is sport, we are not machines. After the performance on Wednesday it was always going to be hard to compete today. We have to congratulate Depor, there have won this game."
Barcelona are now two points behind league leaders Real Madrid, who still have a game in hand.
Matt Law
