Barcelona struggles a mystery to Marc-Andre ter Stegen
- Barcelona defeated by Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League midweek
- Loss followed Clasico defeat to rivals Real Madrid after taking early lead through Ilkay Gundogan
- Ter Stegen admits Barca are angry with recent levels of performance
Marc-Andre ter Stegen has admitted he 'can't explain' Barcelona's recent run of poor performances.
The Catalan giants were surprisingly beaten 1-0 defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, with Danylo Sikan scoring the only goal of the game for the Ukrainian champions.
Perhaps more damning than the result itself was Barcelona's performance on Tuesday. Despite having 68% possession during the game, Xavi Hernandez's side conjured up shockingly little in the final third - having just one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.
Indeed, Barcelona's inability to create chances of late has led star striker Robert Lewandowski to his longest goal in 12 years - the Pole hasn't even had a shot on target in the club's last six games.
The performance against Shakhtar was similar to the one Xavi described as "completely unacceptable" against Real Sociedad days previously - his side were thoroughly outplayed but emerged 1-0 victors thanks to Ronald Araujo's late goal - and Ter Stegen admitted after the defeat in Hamburg that he and his teammates are baffled by the recent dip in form.
“We have had two games that are not good. In the Clasico we played a good game until the 60th minute. Then we went down a little, and right now I can’t tell you why,” the German said. “We are going to analyse the situation, today’s [Tuesday's] game. We look forward. Before the break we have one more game and we will try to win it in the best way.
“We are going to analyse the situation, today’s [Tuesday's] game. We look forward. Before the break we have one more game and we will try to win it in the best way.
“We are angry with ourselves. The result cannot happen to us. They created a chance in the first half and we couldn’t find the formula. We are left with the feeling of having lost a game that we had to win and to get into the next phase of the Champions League.”
Xavi claimed Barca's issues are "mental" during his post-match press conference, and will hope things turn around when Alaves turn up to the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium next.
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