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The head coach of "Barcelona", Tito Vilanova, praised the opponents after the team's first defeat in the Spanish championship.
On Saturday, the Catalans were forced to admit the superiority of San Sebastian's "Sociedad" with a score of 2-3, despite having a two-goal advantage in the first half.
"There is no doubt - our opponents played a great game and deservedly won. They deserve more praise than criticism. That's football. One day it had to happen, because we can't win all the championship matches," Vilanova said at a press conference.
The "Barcelona" coach also hoped that this failure would be beneficial to his players: "The defeat brought us back down to earth. There is still a long way to go until the end of the national championships. Although for many it may seem like we have already won, that is untrue."
According to the coach, "Real Sociedad" played excellently and did not collapse even after conceding goals from Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodriguez in the first half.
The match was not as easy as could have been predicted by looking at the positions of both teams in the league table, but Vilanova noted that everything could have ended differently: "I think the key and decisive moment of the match happened before half-time. We missed a goal and the score was 2-1, but it could have ended differently, as before the accurate shot by Chori Castro, we had the opportunity to score our third goal."
RSO 3 - 2 FCB:
