Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman was glowing with pride after his side's 3-2 win over Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday and said the performance was a benchmark for the remainder of the season.
Barca fell behind in the third minute on an Inaki Williams goal during a counterattack but responded emphatically with goals from Pedri and a resurgent Lionel Messi either side of half-time before Iker Muniain struck late for the hosts.
'That's the way we need to continue. I felt like we controlled the game the whole time and there were barely any dips in our play,' Koeman told a news conference.
The win lifted Barca into third place in the standings and led Koeman to reassess previous pessimistic comments about his side's faint chances of catching leaders Atletico Madrid, who lead the Catalans by seven points with two games in hand.
'The title race is still open because the season is very long. There can be injuries, teams can have downturns and a side that looks very good can end up struggling,' he said.
The Dutchman also praised Messi, who produced arguably his best performance of the season and was unlucky not to grab a hat trick.
The Barca captain has had a relatively poor season by his own standards but his scores took him on to nine goals for the campaign, making him the joint top scorer in La Liga.
'Messi has given everything since day one, he has spent so many years at the very top level but it seems that now he has become even more effective,' Koeman said.
'He has always shown us his skill and his commitment but today he gave us his goals too.'
On 18-year-old playmaker Pedri, Koeman added: 'He plays with so much maturity despite his age and most importantly he uses his head.'
RONALDO_7_ind
525
CONGRATS MESSI U STARTED THIS YEAR WITH TWO GOALS WE WANT THIS TYPE OF GOALS FOREVER 🔥🔥
MeNomi
433
Look at these stats , Busquets was doing nothing and still Koeman can't see that , Bro Puig is very much needed for Barca , someone push that into Koeman's brain
0_football_knowledge
414
Important points of the game: • Today we saw the Messi we knew and he also looked so now we can say Messi is back . • Griezmann was also good today, he didn't score thought but I can smell Goals coming from Grizemann. • Dembele was awesome today , just hope he stays fit . • Leglet again looked shaky today but Ajuraho covered him well. • Another masterclass from Frenkie De Jong. • Remember the name Gonzalez Pedri. He is going to be a star in future , remember my words. 3 away win in a trott, Important 3 points in the pocket and Now let's not drop this form . We are often running in 2021
Sachinmnm10
386
old messi and new iniesta🔥🔥
Motela
352
stop with this Upcoming iniesta/Xavi...let the boy be Pedri & just that. let's not give him a ladder he can't climb in a day.
D10S_LM10
242
Iñaki Williams: “We played a good first half, but they have Messi, the best player in the world. When he plays like that, there is not much that one can do to stop him." G.O.A.T MODE ON 🔛
Gifted97
141
To be sincere, Barcelona have good players who can deliver even without a good coach. I still don't trust Koeman's coaching. He isn't using the players as he should. He used only 2 substitute yesterday when he could have easily substituted busquet and even pedri
Heet10
126
No Neymar no problem we have Suarez No Suarez no problem we got pedri
asdgj
8
u r always find iniesta xavi in every match [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
we are the fan of team in which many legend's played and win trophy..We are not the team who is waiting for ucl since 29 years