Suspended for the clash with Feyenoord after carrying over a ban from last season, Eric Garcia reclaimed his place in Barcelona's starting line-up against Levante. The Catalans ran out 4-2 winners in La Liga.
Garcia played in a mask, protecting the injury he picked up in a collision with teammate Rodri at the Mestalla Stadium.
Mundo Deportivo carried the defender's comments, in which he revealed that manager Hansi Flick had warned them how hard it would be to win on Levante's ground.
Eric Garcia said: "The timing, the heat and the pitch, none of it helped us or them. It is a difficult ground, and the manager told us they had not lost here since last March."
"I think we made the match harder for ourselves than we needed to," he added. "That should serve as a lesson for us, because if you give any opponent a little bit of space, they press you hard."
An error by Marc Bernal, sorry, an error by Xavi Espart, one Hansi Flick took responsibility for after failing to substitute him earlier, combined with a moment when Cubarsi and Bernal were not decisive enough to let Levante pull a goal back.
"These are mistakes we know we are capable of avoiding, but overall we put in a good match," Garcia noted. "We can be happy."
Despite that error, Espart scored his first goal for the senior side, the first of his Barcelona career, and Garcia was full of praise. "The manager is proving that he has complete trust in him, and he is repaying that trust with his performance," he said. "He is playing very well, and we should be very happy. He has to keep working."
He warned: "The team is marked by competition in every position. No one can rest easy."
The right-back acknowledged that plenty of the squad can help build attacks, but reckons the difference comes from the players up top.
"We feel comfortable when we have the ball," he said. "We have midfielders and players at the back who can pass the ball very well, while up front we have beasts, very powerful players, capable of doing great damage in the spaces."
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