Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde says he isn’t feeling the pressure of mounting speculation about his future at the club.
He saw his side beaten 3-2 by Atletico Madrid on Thursday night, with Diego Simeone’s side going on to face Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa final.
Discontent among the club’s fan base has been growing for months, and there is now renewed talk that more bad results could see Valverde removed from his position.
“Coaches always move with the idea of working hard and giving everything in every game,” Valverde told reporters post-match.
“We know what football is like, that there is always permanent instability.
“When the results are bad or when you lose, as h as happened tonight, I suppose we will talk about this and other things. It’s inevitable but I will do my job.”
After dominating the opening stages of the game, Barca went behind straight after half-time to a goal from Koke.
Lionel Messi and former Atleti hero Antoine Griezmann turned the game around, only for Alvaro Morata and Angel Correa to win the game for Simeone’s side in the last 10 minutes.
Barca were also frustrated by VAR as goals from Messi and Gerard Pique were ruled out for handball and offside respectively.
“We were dominating the game but there are details that you can’t neglect,” Valverde added.
“It was a game that we dominated, we came back after Atletico got the first goal. We had the game in our hands and they turned it around in two plays.
“The goal to make it 2-2 came after a situation where we did not know how to stop the game. They overloaded us inside with our defence open, had fast players going forward and surprised us with that play.
“I don’t think we were outplayed but there were two specific situations in a game we had controlled.
“They hurt us when it seemed like the game was going our way. I loved that the opponent had been ahead and we turned it around, but then it went the other way again.”
Barca will look to put the bad result behind them as they return to league action to host Granada on January 19.