Unanimous verdict: Win at Calderón a huge boost for morale

Barça’s league title challenge took a massive boost on Sunday with a 2-1 win in one of the trickiest fixtures on the calendar – Atlético Madrid away. Naturally, the post-match reactions from the manager and his players were full of positive words – and here’s the pick of the best quaotes:

Luis Enrique

"It's a victory that really raises our morale."

"It was a hard-earned win. In the first half, their pressure and the field conditions made it tough, but in the second half their pressure didn’t have the same effect and our confidence grew, giving us more chances.”

"Atlético are very dangerous on set pieces.”

“I’m happy for the win and for the team because it strengthens the players’ morale.”

“We were a lot better in the second half, and we had more possession. In the first half, we lost a lot of balls.”

"I’m satisfied with a win against a direct opponent, but we have a long way to go. It is important to climb away from Atlético and get closer to where we want to be. We are keeping the pressure on.”

“You could see the good attitudes of the players all game long, they were all united, and in the end, we were rewarded, and deservedly so. You have to congratulate them.”

"We changed our system and went to a 3-4-3 diamond formation to control possession and the match."

Rafinha

“The team made a huge effort and it was fighting to the end that earned us the three points.”

“We were able to react after they scored. We always have to believe in ourselves and fight for every ball. It was thanks to that attitude that we could score.”

“We’ve been working on a three-man defence to counter the pressure teams put on us. We are ready to play all kinds of different ways.”

Sergi Roberto

“I was feeling pain in my thigh at the end of the game. It hurt when I started to run or change pace. The pitch and the intensity of the game also played a part.”

“The team played well from start to finish. Atlético are always very demanding to play against and we had to keep on working after they equalised.”

“When you’ve been at Barça for so long, you especially enjoy victories like this one.”

Luis Suárez

“There’s still a lot of league to go but a win here was a boost for our confidence. The important thing was to take all three points.”

“All the players were on top form. We have shown that we have the ambition to fight for the title.”

“We knew that this was a great chance to turn the league around.”

Andrés Iniesta

“Atlético are in strong form, but in such a tough match they might have been suffering the consequences of their Champions League game. Even so, they did have their chances.”

“We have to keep winning to put pressure on the leaders. We did that today at a difficult ground.”

“It’s always nice to win at a ground like this. It keeps us in contention for the league title. Now we have two home games in a row and then we’ll focus on the other competition again.”

Neymar Jr

“I’m very happy to have won such a difficult match. It was a very important win for us against a top quality opponent.”

“We don’t think about other teams. We only focus on doing our own job.”