21.02.2009 23:16
Guardiola: “We’ll get back up again”
Vanessa Forns
After their first home league defeat this season, Pep Guardiola is sure the squad will get back up again, dust themselves down and get on with the job.
The Barça coach said that, logically, the players were “affected and upset” by their
defeat at the hands of Espanyol. Yet he also felt sure that the players will get over it:
“We’ll get back up again, dust ourselves down and get on with the job. I’m in no
doubt.”
“Nobody said it would be easy, but we’re still in a strong position. We’ve
lost a game, but we still have a good lead”, he added.
The difficulty of winning the league
In this way, the Barça coach reminded us that it has always been difficult to win the league:
“We have to win a lot of games and continue fighting till the end. This defeat came when it
came. Now we have to get back up and face Madrid next week. The league will eventually be
ours”.
A hard game
Guardiola congratulated Espanyol on their victory, and added that the game lacked fluidity
owing to the number of stoppages: “the game lacked rhythm. It’s difficult to achieve
this when there are so many fouls”.
Keita’s sending-off key
Guardiola was reticent to criticise the referee, but he admitted that Keita’s
sending-off had changed everything: “It’s not my job to judge referees. When we lose
it’s our fault. The referee already knows what he has done.”
Abidal’s injury
Finally, Guardiola expressed his regret over Abidal’s injury: “His injury is
really bad news. But we have Puyol, Sylvinho, players from Barça Atletic. I’m in no doubt
we’ll keep going forward”.
Laporta: “We have to look forward”
Joan Laporta regretted the defeat at the hands of Espanyol, Barça’s first home league defeat
this season, but he underlined the need to look forward: “We were bound to face some blows,
but we just have to keep on. We have to forget this game and value everything we have achieved this
season. Now we have to focus on the upcoming Champions League tie against Olympique Lyon, which
will be a tough match as they’re currently the best team in France”.
The “blaugrana” president wouldn’t comment on Keita’s sending-off,
but stated that Espanyol had “prevented Barça from playing. And we couldn’t find a way
to deal with them”.