Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann put Barcelona‘s 3-0 defeat to Juventus at the Nou Camp down to an attitude problem with a stunningly frank post-match interview.
Cristiano Ronaldo‘s penalty brace fired the Italians to a comfortable victory which put them top of Champions League Group G.
Weston McKennie also scored early as Juventus got the three-goal win they needed to pip their opponents to first place and afterwards Griezmann slammed Barcelona’s performance.
“We were not there in the first half,” he said. “It was an attitude problem. We had no desire to run, no desire to work or attack. The image is very ugly,” he added.
Asked if he was blaming the players, he said, “If it’s not the players’ fault whose fault can it be? We play the games. This is a real blow to wake us up.”
He got no argument from his teammate Marc Andre ter Stegen.
“We made mistakes that we could not keep repeating,” said the goalkeeper.
Asked about more individual errors costing Barcelona, he said, “There are two things: there are individual errors and then there is the way you defend.
He then tried to play down the consequences of Barça not finishing top of their group. He added that “it is never an easy game in the last-16 whether you finish top or second.”
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said, “A big part of the defeat was the first 30 minutes. We started with fear and no aggression.
“We started trying not to lose instead of trying to control the game. Then we improved but we lost the game in the first half hour.”