Every manager expects his home crowd to support them not only by chants but from the heart and it becomes even more necessary when hosts are trailing to visitors. This is something that happened to Barcelona during their Tuesday night’s Champions’ League Group E clash with Bayer Leverkusen where Kyriakos Papadopoulos brought some joy for the visitors when his header gave them a crucial one goal lead. Generally, first goal is considered a decider therefore when Barca was trailing at home, it was assumed that European defenders are heading towards a shocking loss to German side especially when two of its heavyweights Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta were not playing in the game. But Bayer’s joy went short lived after Sergi Roberto equalizer and then Luis Suarez winner helped Barca eventually win the game. Even though it was a triumph at the end, but Barcelona coach Luis Enrique asks supporters to back there team on crucial moments particularly when they are trailing. He was referring to the silence ambiance inside the ground after Germans lead and questions if fans really wanted them to win the game. He said in the post-match news conference, “This team deserves more credit and more faith. These players have earned that. Things can go better or worse for you, but they always run.
“I understand whistles if they do not run, but these players always do that. We needed more support at 0-1 down, less at 1-1, and at 2-1 it was needed. You can hear the whistles plenty down there, on the pitch. We did not deserve those whistles, they can whistle us at the end of the game, but not during it, a bit more confidence would be good for us.”
Praising his team’s moral despite conceiving one goal in the beginning, Enrique added, “I am very happy as the team did not lose faith at any moment. And in the end they have pulled off a victory which is very important for a group, as I said, that was not at all easy. This result will strengthen the group a lot. Sometimes in football you can win different ways. Sometimes through faith, sometimes through play, sometimes through heart, sometimes through being effective.”
Actually, moral support plays and important role in boosting players confidence and if hosts get a backing from the live crowd it triples their confidence which later helps them recovering from earlier debacles and this is what Spanish mentor is referring to.
