Atletico Madrid's Gregorio Manzano: It is physically impossible to outplay Barcelona

The Atleti coach was upset with the final score but was the first to admit that his side could not live with the sheer dominance of the champions and their five-goal performance

Atletico Madrid coach Gregorio Manzano has conceded that his team had no chance of beating Barcelona at their own game, after suffering a heavy 5-0 defeat to the champions on Saturday at Camp Nou.

The capital outfit failed to exert any kind of threat on Pep Guardiola's side, and paid the price for their wrong approach to proceedings by being thrashed in Catalunya, courtesy of a Lionel Messi hat-trick, plus a strike from David Villa and an own goal from Miranda, and Manzano feels there was only one winner in the battle for possession.

"We faced a team in Barcelona that is currently settling into a rhythm," he said during the post-match press conference . "They have great players that offer tactical variety.

"It is unlikely that any team in the world would be able to win the majority of possession, it is physically impossible. To win here on those conditions, you'd have to have the performance of the century."

However, despite losing in such convincing fashion, Manzano did express his unhappiness at going down to such an unflattering scoreline, but reserved empathy for big-money signing Falcao, whose display was outshone by that of his Argentine counterpart.

"I'm a little angry [with the score], but I admit that this is one of the best teams of recent times," he continued.

"Falcao has been in the gray, like the whole team, but there was not even a chance [in this game] to show how good a player Falcao is."

Atletico Madrid drop down to seventh in the Primera Division table, and will strive to get back to winning ways on Thursday, when they face Rennes in the Europa League.