Barcelona defender Eric Garcia says they were poor for defeat at Almeria.

The centre-back was very blunt about the shortcomings that led Barça to lose.

He said, "In the first half we had neither rhythm nor intensity. In the second half we looked for a goal, but they accumulated a lot of players in their area and it was impossible.

"They were very tight in the middle. They let us cross, but they had a lot of people and it was difficult to get anything out. It's a blow, because Madrid had a slip-up and we had the chance to extend our lead. We've had two very tough defeats, but we have to keep going because we have a very important game on Thursday.

"The Clasico (Copa del Rey) didn't affect us. It's just that we didn't come out with the necessary intensity. That's all there was to it. We knew they were going to close down at the back and that they have very quick players on the counter-attack, but the problem was more our problem."