Barcelona coach Luis Enrique stood by his decision to start Luis Suarez against Real Madrid after his side suffered a 3-1 defeat to their bitter rivals at the Bernabeu.

The former Liverpool striker was able to make his competitive debut for Barcelona just 18 hours after his four-month suspension for biting Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup came to an end.

The Uruguayan international got off to an ideal start, providing the assist for Neymar to fire Barcelona into the lead with barely three min­utes on the clock. He also played a similar pass to Lionel Messi mid­way through the first half but the Argentinian squandered the oppor­tunity.

However, as the game wore on Suarez’s influence faded and Madrid asserted their grip on the game. The hosts equalised through Cristiano Ronaldo’s pen­alty on 35 minutes and then took the lead through Pepe’s header at the start of the second half, before Karim Benzema finished off a quick counter-attack to put the game out of Barcelona’s reach.

Enrique removed Suarez from the pitch after 69 minutes in favour of Pedro but believed he was right in giving him a starting berth.

He said: “I don’t regret that he started, he did more than I expect­ed him to do, and I substituted him for fitness reasons.”

Rather than blaming the debutant for the defeat, the coach cited his team’s defensive errors.

“I was expecting a different type of game, not one in which we would be so unconvincing in defence. We have to correct that because if we don’t we will really struggle.”

Suarez also insisted he was match fit, telling Canal Plus: “I felt really good, I have been training for a long time with this game in mind and so when the coach made the decision I was in the right shape to play.

“I’m happy that I was able to play, it was a big relief and I’m very hap­py with the minutes I had. I have a bittersweet sensation because of the result but this team has picked itself up before many times.

Enrique admitted his team were second best, adding: “It is a defeat that leaves us with the imp-ression that some other teams are better than us. They won in a des-erved manner.

We started well and had clear chances to score. We could have made it 2-0 but the first half was very much back and forth. We must cut out our errors. Their second goal came from a set-piece and the third came from our mistake.”