Quique Setien says Barcelona took a step forward against Athletic Club on Thursday night, despite being eliminated from the Copa del Rey with a 1-0 quarter-final defeat.
Inaki Williams flicked home a header in stoppage time at the San Mames Stadium to send Barca crashing out and extend their troubling form away from home.
Since Setien took over as boss, Barca have narrowly beaten Ibiza, lost to Valencia and now been beaten in Bilbao – but he was adamant that progress has been made.
“Taking into account what has happened to us in other games from home, we have taken a step forward in terms of what we have to improve,” Setien told reporters.
“It is the same as ever; there are days when you have one chance and put it in, and there are days where you have ten and can’t do it. There isn’t a reasonable explanation.
“I have never known what to blame it on. Their goal came from a play that wasn’t dangerous. There are things that can’t be controlled and this is one of them.
“Everything went well, except for the result. I am happy with the team’s work.”
Barca had 11 shots in the game compared to Athletic’s seven, and five on target compared to their opponent's one.
“We controlled the second half,” Setien insisted. “Marc-Andre [ter Stegen] didn’t have any saves to make and it was a shame because we had the game under control.
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“We created several clear chances and they got the goal when there was no time for us to react. We looked good and we were the better team.
“We didn’t win but it will come. It is a pity the competition doesn’t give us the chance for revenge but we must be positive despite not deserving to be eliminated.”
With domestic cup glory now out of the question, Barca return to the task of clawing back Real Madrid’s three-point lead at the top of La Liga.
They face fixtures with Real Betis, Getafe and Eibar in the coming weeks, before returning to Champions League action against Napoli.
“The result is always the most important thing, but so is the feeling,” Setien added.
“Today the team gave a very good performance. It was much better despite it not being easy to control Athletic’s game.
“We controlled the game in the second half but they scored and we couldn’t respond. We had read the game well, as we wanted to.
“It is a pity we didn’t go ahead with the chances we missed. We must congratulate our opponents because they did it, they did what we couldn’t.”