11.03.2007 01:00
Morale boost for Rijkaard
Frank Rijkaard has highlighted the importance of the point that FC Barcelona won after playing for a long period with only ten players. "The draw is a morale boost for the team," he said.
The Barça coach announced that he was content with the spirit that the team showed and that they
were able to come back from being behind on three occasions. He was also pleased with the
performance of the team after Oleguer Presas was sent off before half-time: "Looking at the whole
game and seeing that despite playing ten against eleven that we were still capable of earning a
draw, we can view it as a success," Rijkaard stated. "The draw is a morale boost for the team
because we have all seen what happened and how much the effort the players gave and how much they
had to work."
Correcting things
Reflecting on the opening minutes of the game, Rijkaard said that he regretted the manner in
which Ruud Van Nistelrooy was twice able to put the visitors in front: "It is a pity that scored
two quite easy goals and made life very difficult for us.
"When we did not have the ball we were not well organised, which allowed our opponents to
reach our goal quite easily," he continued. "That is an aspect that we have to analyse and to
correct so that it does not happen again."
Pleased for Messi
Without any doubt, the main protagonist of el Clásico was young Lionel Messi, who scored a
hat-trick to earn his side a share of the spoils: "He saved us from defeat," the Blaugrana boss
explained. "When a player scores three goals it shows that he has had a very special game."
Rijkaard then praised the two players that have come back from injury to begin performing so
well once again. "I want to congratulate the return of both Messi and Samuel Eto'o," he said,
before adding about Ronaldinho that "he worked very hard throughout the game."
Using the 3-4-3
Rijkaard chose to employ the 3-4-3 at the start of the game using the same players that began
at Anfield in midweek and he had not doubts about his decision as he explained that "I am convinced
that we can play this way" before stating that "it has worked very well in other game". The only
slight doubts the Dutchman had were that "the team was slightly disorganised at crucial moments",
an area which he repeated that he was keen to work on to eradicate in the future.
Laporta: "Barça are strong candidates to win the title"
FC Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, said after the 3-3 draw against Real Madrid on Saturday
evening that "Barça are strong candidates wo win the league after the adverse circumstances of the
game and the fight back that we have seen. For us, it is very important to maintain the distance
that is betweemn ourselves and the team that are behind is and this spurs us on to keep adding
points to our tally".
The Blaugrana supremo also commended the attitude of the team: "I want to congratulate the
players because when drawing a game when you have played for a long time with a man less is good
and we also had a chance to win in the final minutes," he continued. "The team gave a very good
account of themselves and the points are still being added. We kept going and could have taken all
three points. We have to praise their effort."
Looking back at the whole game Laporta said: "The first half was a little strange. I think
that we played better football than them. The game as going in our favour. In the second half we
knew we would suffer and Madrid have been able to look more comfortable until that stroke of genius
from Messi has come right near the end."
Finally, the president wanted to congratulate Víctor Valdés: "He has demonstrated his quality
and proved that we have a great goalkeeper here."