The French striker found the back of the net but was unable to inspire his side to victory and a much-needed three points
Antoine Griezmann declared that Barcelona‘s players were furious with themselves after a 1-1 draw at Deportivo Alaves in La Liga on Saturday.
Barca failed to come up with a winner despite playing the majority of the second half with an extra man.
A goalkeeping mistake by Neto allowed Luis Rioja to give Alaves the lead before Jota was shown a second yellow for a dangerous high kick on Gerard Pique.
France striker Griezmann equalised soon after with a classy finish, but the Blaugrana could not find a way past Fernando Pacheco in the Alaves goal.
Pacheco’s seven saves were more than any other goalkeeper has made in a La Liga game against Barca this season, while Lionel Messi took 10 shots across the 90 minutes but failed to get his name on the scoresheet and has now scored just once from his past 45 direct free-kicks for Barcelona.
“We are angry, and angry because we wanted the three points,” Griezmann said in a media conference afterwards.
“We are failing a lot in front of goal, I am the first. We have had many chances, but we have only scored one. We have to work to improve. The team needs my goals and I try to improve on that.”
The result meant Barca lost further ground on Real Madrid and are now eight points behind the leaders in 12th place.
It also ensured that they have equalled their joint-worst start to the season since La Liga changed to three points for a win – Barcelona also had eight points after six games in 2002-03.
Although Griezmann was quick to stress that nobody at the club has started to panic despite the stuttering start.
“We must improve and with work it will be like that. We need calm because the campaign is long,” Griezmann added. “We still have a lot to improve. We have to work towards Wednesday’s game against Dynamo Kiev now and try to win.”
Barcelona must pick themselves back up quickly as they host Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Wednesday before facing Real Betis in La Liga action on November 7.
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