Ronald Koeman explained Granada's early goal and the limited resources at his disposal meant Barcelona could not play 'tiki-taka' as they battled to a draw on Monday.
In their first match since going down 3-0 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Barca narrowly avoided suffering another home defeat.
Domingos Duarte headed a second-minute opener for Granada, chasing their second straight Camp Nou win after 24 straight losses, and the Blaugrana had to wait until the final seconds of normal time to respond.
Ronald Araujo got the leveller with a header of his own, coming from one of 54 Barca crosses.
Since the 2005-06 season, the Catalan side have only once registered more crosses in a match, sending in 55 in a goalless draw against Malaga in November 2016.
Sergino Dest and Memphis Depay each delivered 16 crosses, a tally topped only by Dani Alves (on five occasions) and Neymar (in the Malaga game) among Barca players in that period.
In the same time span, no other Barca player can match Araujo's five headed attempts in a league game.
It was a far cry from the passing patterns Pep Guardiola's team used to produce, but under-fire coach Koeman, who refused to discuss his future after the match, felt Barca had little other option in pursuit of an equaliser.
"Our bad start made it very difficult for us," Koeman said. "It was a play with two or three previous actions that we have not played well, then the cross and the goal have arrived.
"You face a team that is going to waste time from minute one, that is going to defend more and without spaces. It is all more difficult.
"The space was on the wings, not inside. Our basic system is 4-3-3 and that's how we played in the first half, then with [Philippe] Coutinho behind and Memphis on the left.
"But the Barca of today is not the Barca of eight years ago. It's not the game we want, but we lack players for one-on-one situations. Coutinho and [Yusuf] Demir go more inside.
"With Ansu [Fati] and [Ousmane] Dembele we would have [these players], but they are not here and we have to look for other ways to attack, such as playing more on the outside and crossing.
"If you see the team sheet, what else should be done? Play 'tiki-taka' if there is no space?
"We didn't want to play like this at the start of the game, but it wasn't easy to play short and we don't have players with speed on the wing.
"There was no room on the inside, but there was room on the outside for Dest and Memphis to cross on the left and [Oscar] Mingueza [nine crosses off the bench] on the right.
"In the end, we were able to draw at a time when we were good at squeezing the opponent. But we have lost two points."
Despite outlining their deficiencies, Koeman praised his players, adding: "We must highlight the attitude.
"People leave unhappy because we don't win, but not because of the attitude. I want to highlight the energy we put into winning a point. We have had dedication and the support of our people, who have encouraged us and to whom I thank.
"We deserved the draw and with a bit of luck we were able to win. And that also has to be seen. You have to highlight the ambition to want to win."
Michail Antonio felt officials were against West Ham after European exit
Michail Antonio felt West Ham were up against 14 players as they bowed out of the Europa League to Bayer Leverkusen.
Antonio’s early header gave the Hammers hope of overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit and inflicting a first defeat of the season on Xabi Alonso’s new Bundesliga champions.
But the bustling striker claimed he did not get a decision all night from card-happy Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez and his two assistants.
“It doesn’t feel like you’re playing against 11 men, it feels like you’re playing against 13 or 14 including the two linos,” Antonio told TNT Sports.
“You just have to keep pushing and try and make the decisions go your way. And they just weren’t. We had to keep playing our way and keep being professional.”
West Ham pushed gamely for a second goal to take the tie to extra-time, but as they inevitably flagged Leverkusen substitute Jeremie Frimpong scored with a deflected shot in the last minute to make it 1-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate.
It was a valiant effort but ultimately a sad end to another European adventure for last season’s Conference League winners.
“We’re very proud of ourselves, to achieve what we’ve achieved over the last few years is incredible,” added Antonio.
“Three back-to-back years in European quarter-finals I would never have thought that. We were a yo-yo team, fighting relegation, then into Europe.”
Sanchez booked 11 players and sent off West Ham coach Billy McKinlay, and Sebastian Parrilla from Leverkusen’s staff after a touchline altercation.
Asked if that skirmish had anything to do with some bad-tempered exchanges between the benches in last week’s first leg, Alonso said with a grin: “I wouldn’t say no.”
Hammers boss David Moyes was not keen to be drawn on the officiating, but he did say: “I watch a lot of Spanish football but if that’s the way it is you wouldn’t want to watch too many Spanish matches.”
On his side’s performance, he added: “It was a brilliant team performance, I have to say over the two games.
“We played a really good team and we had chances to be two or three up. I couldn’t fault the players at all. If I was going out of Europe I wanted to go out like that.”
In the first half Leverkusen looked as though they may have celebrated their first Bundesliga crown on Sunday a little too much, and Alonso admitted they needed to improve after the break.
“For sure it was a thrilling game,” he said. “Two different halves. First half we knew West Ham would come with high intensity and we were not comfortable with that.
“After they scored one we were lucky not to concede a second one. But we showed character in the second half and the substitutes had a good impact. It was a lesson for us.”
Jurgen Klopp accepts lack of threat cost Liverpool dear in European exit
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp accepted their lack of goal threat failed to put enough pressure on Atalanta to help turn their Europa League quarter-final back in their favour.
Mohamed Salah’s seventh-minute penalty had raised hopes of a Barcelona 2019-style comeback but the Egypt international missed a relatively straightforward lob to make it 2-0 towards the end of the first half and they faded badly after the break as they exited the competition 3-1 on aggregate.
That meant for only the third time in the 21st century, England have no teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League or Europa League/UEFA Cup.
“We didn’t lose the tie tonight, we lost it at home,” Klopp said after a 3-0 first-leg defeat proved decisive.
“It’s very easy to congratulate Atalanta because they deserved to go through. When you win a tie against us 3-1 in especially this way you deserve it absolutely.
“But I loved our game, especially the start. I loved the commitment, desire and power we developed in this game but it was clear we had better score from time to time otherwise it could be tricky over 90 minutes.
“The second goal could have helped a little bit. We have to create a little bit more than we did in the first half as it’s clear you need a result to help destabilise the opponent.
“If you have a second goal it’s a tricky one as the next goal is extra time but we didn’t get to that point and we will never really know how that would have looked.
“Disappointed we didn’t go through but not frustrated or angry. If you don’t deserve it, it’s all good.”
Salah has looked well short of his clinical best since returning from almost two months out with a hamstring problem.
Even though he has scored six in 11 game since he came back two of those have been penalties and he is squandering more chances he would normally be expected to take.
“I’m not particularly concerned. That’s what strikers do. That’s how it it is. We have to go through it, he has to go through it,” added Klopp.
“He is one of most experienced players in the squad. That’s pretty much all.
“It’s not that Mo didn’t miss chances before in his life, that’s part of the game. The penalty was super convincing, a super penalty then the next chance that was unlucky, but it’s not the first time has has missed chances like that.
“I won’t make a big story of it. I’m not particularly concerned.”
Liverpool exit Europa League despite win at Atalanta
Liverpool crashed out of the Europa League after they failed to turn around their 3-0 first-leg defeat to Atalanta despite winning 1-0 at Gewiss Stadium.
Jurgen Klopp’s men took the lead from the spot in the seventh minute through Mohamed Salah but could not find the goals needed as they fell to a 3-1 aggregate loss in the quarter-finals.
West Ham were knocked out by Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen at London Stadium, also going out 3-1 on aggregate.
The Hammers gave themselves hope, both in the tie and of inflicting a first defeat of the season on Leverkusen, courtesy of Michail Antonio’s first-half goal.
But it was not enough as Leverkusen scored late on through Jeremie Frimpong.
Roma held off AC Milan to advance to the semi-finals.
Daniele De Rossi’s side, who won the first leg 1-0, scored two quickfire goals through Gianluca Mancini and Paulo Dybala to strengthen their advantage.
Despite Mehmet Zeki Çelik’s red card for a late challenge on Rafael Leao and Matteo Gabbia pulling one back in the 85th minute, the hosts managed to see out the match.
Marseille had to rely on penalties to claim their last-eight win over Benfica.
Benfica went to Stade Velodrome with a 2-1 advantage.
Faris Moumbagna opened the scoring for the hosts but both defences proved to be stubborn as the match went the distance after extra-time.
Antonio Silva and Angel Di Maria missed from 12 yards before Luis Henrique scored the decisive spot-kick to send the French club through.
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