FCBARCELONA.CAT

01.02.2009 19:20

Player feel deserving of Racing win

Roger Bogunyà

The Barça players felt they deserved the win tonight in Santander, but all agreed that although they were certainly the better team, they had struggle to create enough chances.

One player to make such comments was Gerard Piqué, who was sent off for the second time this season: “We never give in. Truth is there have been lots of games this season in which we’ve gone behind to the first goal but we just attack and attack until we get in front.”

Messi had a similar view of the game in Santander (1-2): “We had a very good team against us, and I think we controlled the game, but we didn’t get as many chances as other days”. But he felt Barça were fully deserving of the three points.

The following are some of the comments made by FC Barcelona players after the game.

Messi

“I’m keeping the ball that I scored goal 5000 with. It is for the club and the museum. The ball will go in the museum.”

“We always want to score goals, so we weren’t thinking especially about goal number 5000.”

“I didn’t know it was the 5000th goal, but I had heard something about it.”

“To make it 2-1, I wanted to keep on going. If I can, I always carry on, I never dive.”

“Everything went well for me today but other days they don’t. I am happy with the win.”

“It was an important win, because it was a difficult ground and Madrid had won and we were losing.”

Piqué

“We have shown that whoever plays, we can respond. The team’s playing well and we are confident that everything will work out right, despite all the suspensions, when we play Sporting.”

“It is a bonus to have Messi, a sheer pleasure. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe him.”

“Racing, once they had scored, attacked less and played it tight at the back.”

“Those that are waiting for us to lose will just have to keep waiting.”

Márquez

“It’s difficult these days, because players go down with the minimum contact. It isn’t easy for me to say whether it was a penalty or not.”

“We didn’t get the depth we have done on other days.”

“Leo coming on gave us more life and also the win.”

“Leo is a fundamental part of the team. When he rests and comes on later, we gain in confidence. He’s yet another opportunity for us.”