Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Barcelona's Luis Enrique: Win over Villarreal doesn't decide tie

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said his side were not yet in the Copa del Rey final after Wednesday night's 3-1 semifinal first leg win over Villarreal at the Camp Nou.

Barca went ahead just before the break when Luis Suarez capitalised on a defensive mistake to set up Lionel Messi to fire the home side ahead.

The game opened up after halftime, with Villarreal shocking the home side by equalising through Manu Trigueros' 30 yard strike in the 48th minute, only for Andres Iniesta to almost immediately hit back from close range.

Gerard Pique headed in Messi's corner late on to give the Catalan side a healthy advantage ahead of the second leg at Villarreal's El Madrigal ground on March 4.

The blaugrana coach told his postmatch news conference that the tie was not yet decided, while lamenting a penalty missed late on by Neymar which might have given the scoreline a more emphatic look.

"In general I think we saw a very good game from us against a good rival," Luis Enrique said. "It is a good result, which does not decide the tie of course, but is a good result. Missing the penalty leaves the feeling it could have been better, but for me it was a good result. It will not change our mentality, we will go to El Madrigal and attack in the second leg, to win the game, that is our objective."

Barca had dominated the game better than their recent La Liga meeting, when Villarreal twice took the lead only to eventually lose 3-2, Luis Enrique said.

"The game was different than the one against them 10 days ago," he said. "We played a very complete game, not just in attack, but also after losing the ball. Today Villarreal were much more defensive, looking for a positive result for them, but with 10 players back near their own area. We were able to cause them danger down the wings, people coming from the second line, shots from outside the area. And pressing well, above all, to stop them countering."

The result makes it 10 wins in a row now for Barca in all competitions, but Luis Enrique said he would be stressing to his players that an upset in the second leg was possible.

"Confidence can kill you," he said. "You cannot go to El Madrigal being relaxed. I predict a very difficult second leg. We will try and focus the players, not to think that they are already close to the final."

Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was defended by his coach, although the German did seem at fault as Trigueros' swerving 30 yard effort found the centre of the net.

"We already knew that the ball has strange effects, we saw it in training, and today it surprised us," he said. "Trigueros shot was from very far out."

The Asturian said it was not a coincidence that his side had once again reacted to conceding a goal by going up the other end and retaking the lead as they had against Villarreal in La Liga 10 days ago, and against Atletico Madrid in the previous Copa round.

"Of course we work on that," Luis Enrique said. "There is a reason we have a psychologist on the coaching staff."

Luis Enrique admitted that the decision to play Javier Mascherano in his Argentina position of deep midfield, while resting usual 'pivote' Sergio Busquets, had been a tactical one.

"For me it is difficult to leave out Busquets, he is an almost perfect player," he said. "We were able to give him a rest, and Mascherano gives us something different in the centre of the pitch. I wanted to have Mascherano to have more pace there and stop the counter-attack. That way Sergio got to rest a little."

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