Barcelona coach Luis Enrique admitted his team’s sluggish start cost them dearly as their shock loss to Real Sociedad blew the La Liga title race wide open.

Barca’s nine-point advantage over second-placed Atletico Madrid has been cut to three with six games remaining, while Real trail the Catalans by four points.

Mikel Oyarzabal scored the only goal of the game after five minutes and Barcelona, missing top scorer Luis Suarez and starting without Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic and Jordi Alba, failed to respond, losing for the fifth consecutive time at Anoeta.

“The game began in the worst way possible,” admitted Luis Enrique.

“We played really badly in the first half. We tried to turn it around with our hearts rather than our heads and we needed more control. These games weigh on you. We couldn’t get close to them and we had no luck in the second half. Real Sociedad are always a stone in our shoe.”

“We didn’t deserve to lose, but we are still the leaders,” he added.