• Barça defender says club and team ‘not in best moment’ after 2-0 defeat • Luis Suárez out for ‘four to five weeks’ with knee injury sustained in loss

Gerard Piqué has admitted he felt “inferior” to Real Madrid for the first time in his nine years as a Barcelona defender, after they were beaten 5-1 on aggregate in the Spanish Super Cup. A 2-0 defeat at the Bernabéu on Wednesday night saw Barcelona humiliated by their rivals, with Sergio Ramos winding up Lionel Messi by throwing the ball over the Argentinian when he readied his hands to collect.

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The victory means Zinedine Zidane has won seven trophies during his 20 months in charge of Real Madrid. Goals from Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema sealed the latest triumph, as Barcelona appeared to struggle again without Neymar, who joined Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee earlier this month.

“This is a long process and there is room for improvement but in the nine years that I have been here, it is the first time that I feel inferior to Madrid,” Piqué said. “We are not in the best moment, either as a team or as a club. We must stay as close as possible and keep moving forwards.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sergio Ramos refuses to play ball with Lionel Messi. Photograph: Denis Doyle/Getty Images

The news did not get any better for the Barcelona head coach, Ernesto Valverde, after the Uruguayan Football Association confirmed Luis Suárez will miss around a month with the right knee injury he sustained in Wednesday’s defeat. It means Suárez will be unavailable for the World Cup qualifiers against Argentina on 31 August and Paraguay on 5 September. “The time estimated by Barcelona for rehabilitation is four to five weeks,” said a Uruguay statement.

Valverde, who replaced Luis Enrique as the Barcelona manager in May, is still settling into his new job but already the Spaniard has a major task on his hands. “When you lose and you have the feeling that the opponent has, in some moments, been better, you have to analyse the technical aspects,” the former Athletic Bilbao manager said. We wanted to win but it could not be. We have to recover psychologically. We have to adapt because things have changed.”

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Meanwhile, Pep Segura, the Barcelona general manager, said he expected Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé to join the club from Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, respectively. “We are discussing their deals but do not know when it will be done,” he told the Catalan television station TV3. “We know we have to strengthen this team and that is what we are doing. We have to help the team.”

One player Barcelona have signed already this summer is the Brazilian midfielder Paulinho. The former Tottenham player is joining for €40m (£36.4m) from the Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande and will be unveiled on Thursday.