Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde admitted he had to adapt his tactics to get the better of 10-man Eibar in their La Liga 2-0 victory on Saturday night.
Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba were on target for the league leaders – a result which equaled a league unbeaten record of 31 matches – set in 2011.
Valverde resisted making changes at the Estadio Ipurua ahead of their Champions League last-16 round first-leg against Chelsea this week and the Spaniard was pleased to come away with all three points.
“Eibar are on an incredible run and played top quality football” he said. “We struggled in the second half and couldn’t get into their area.
“They were winning the ball in our half, causing danger with crosses from the wings and the pitch was very heavy. The game was as difficult as we had expected. But it was a lot easier when they were a man down.”
He added: “We tried to stay loyal to our style and beat our opponent that way. But you still have to adapt from time to time. In the second half they were on top because we couldn’t break down their pressure.”
“But they were taking a lot of risks by leaving so much space behind them, and long balls were the best way to deal with that pressure and get us into goalscoring positions.”
Yet despite the positive result which was their first in three league games, Valverde insists Chelsea will be a ‘different story’.
“Today was good preparation for the Champions League but every game is different and Tuesday will be a different story” he insisted. “We’ll go there and try to have a good game.”
