Ilkay Gündogan emphasised that Barcelona needs to exhibit more passion and determination, especially in high-stakes matches.
This assessment came after their 2-1 loss to Real Madrid at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.
Barcelona initially took the lead in the first half, with Gündogan himself scoring.
However, Jude Bellingham’s two goals in the second half, including the decisive 92nd-minute winner, propelled Real Madrid back to the summit of LaLiga.
They are now level on points with Girona and hold a four-point lead over Barcelona.
Gündogan pointed out that Barcelona’s response to this defeat underscores the challenges they’ll encounter if they aspire to contend for the league title this season.
“I have to be honest, not as much as I wish because I don’t want to say something wrong, but I was in the dressing room and of course people are disappointed,” the Germany midfielder told La Liga TV.
“But especially after such a big game and a result that is so unnecessary, I wish for more frustration, more anger and more disappointment. This is a little bit of a problem.
“There has to be more emotion, especially when you lose and when you know you can perform better and do better in certain situations and you just don’t react.
“It transfers to the pitch at the end of the day. We need to make a huge step in that direction, because otherwise Real Madrid or even Girona are going to run away. I didn’t come here to lose this type of game or to let a gap create.”
Gündogan, 33, joined Barça as a free agent in the summer from Manchester City on the back of winning the Treble with the Premier League side.
Barça coach Xavi Hernández wanted to bring him in to add creativity in the final third, but also for his experience, and he accepts he has a big role to play in helping the team recover from losing to Madrid.
“There is also a responsibility for myself, as a more experienced player, to not allow the squad to just let things happen,” he added. “No, we need resistance.”
Defeat in El Clásico was Barça’s first in all competitions this season, although draws against Getafe, Mallorca and Granada meant they went into the weekend in third place in the table, behind Madrid and Girona.
Gündogan’s goal had given Barça a deserved lead at the break.But after Fermín López and Iñigo Martínez hit the woodwork for the home side, Bellingham’s 12th and 13th goals of a spectacular season helped Los Blancos turn things around.
Xavi felt the result was an unfair reflection of the game.
“The summary of the game is very simple,” he said in his postmatch news conference. “We had 60 really good minutes and scored one goal. Madrid had 20 good minutes and scored twice.
“But that’s football; if you don’t score the second… We need five or six [chances] to score a goal. With three, they score two. That’s football and that’s Madrid.”