Plenty of criticism has been directed at Andre Gomes after Barcelona fell to a 2-0 defeat against Malaga last weekend, but Luis Enrique defended his player and hit out at those who have made the Portuguese midfielder a scapegoat.
Stressing that football is played by 11 players and not just one, he considered it harsh that so much blame has been attributed to the 23-year-old.
"In my view it is pathetic and sad to blame one or two individual players for a defeat," he said during his pre-match press conference for Tuesday's clash with Juventus.
"This is a team sport and that seems unfair to me."Andre Gomes could be a replacement for [Sergio] Busquets."
Reflecting on the Malaga loss further, the coach was adamant that the Blaugrana deserved something from the game and was concerned only by the result, not by the performance.
"The Sevilla and Malaga games were both good, but the [Malaga] result was a disaster and unfair," he told those in attendance."We were better than Malaga, but they punished us for the only error we had.
"We shouldn't go crazy when a defeat comes along, while we also shouldn't go crazy when we defeat Sevilla comfortably."
After dismissing questions about Neymar potentially missing the Clasico through suspension, Luis Enrique looked ahead to the match at Juventus Stadium and admitted that the opposition is a force to be reckoned with, but that Barcelona expect to play well.
"Our objective is the same as always, which is to play a great game no matter who the opponent is or what stadium we're playing in," the Asturian said."Yet defeating a team this strong will always be difficult.
"It is a similar Juventus team [to the 2015 Champions League final], but with some players having left and some new ones having signed."I don't know if the team of two years ago is better or if the current team is."
One final topic of discussion was the suspension of Sergio Busquets and how the Catalan side would look to cope without their starting defensive midfielder, but Luis Enrique wasn't overly worried.
"He is a vital player, both because of his level of talent and his importance in the unit, but we are more than capable of coping with his absence," he said.
"It's normal for some players to miss matches at some point during a long tournament."This cannot be an excuse."
The match will kick off at 20:45 CET on Tuesday evening.
