Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard is confident his players will be unaffected by their first league defeat of the season.
“You can’t win every game,” Rijkaard said after Barca slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Real Betis on Sunday.
“It was a shame to lose but Betis fought hard for the win and they deserved it.”
The league leaders had won eight and drawn two of 10 league games this season but they came unstuck against Betis.
The defeat, combined with Real Madrid’s crushing 6-1 win over Albacete, cut Barca’s lead over their rivals to four points ahead of Saturday’s clash between the top two at the Nou Camp.
But Rijkaard believes the setback will have little effect on the forthcoming encounter.
“We have got to continue taking it one game at a time and work together so that this defeat will not influence our next match,” he said.
“If we stay united there will be plenty of moments of glory to come.”
