24.02.2009 23:42
Guardiola: “It was a very good lesson”
Anna Segura
The Barça manager has drawn in conclusions from tonight’s match at Olympique Lyon, and feels his side lost control of the ball in the first half: “It is the game from which I can draw the most conclusions for the future” he observed.
Josep Guardiola was convinced enough that a 1-1 draw can go down as a good result, and they had
achieved the most important thing, which was “to score an away goal”.
Conclusions
But he also admitted that had seen a lot of things tonight “from which I can draw
conclusions for the future.” He said that especially after what he had seen in the first
half, he had “some clear things” to say to the players. “If they understand,
we’ll be fighting for everything” he added.
Disorder in first half
He was not impressed at all to witness the lack of order in the way his
players dealt with the first 45 minutes. “We were very wide apart and left them space to come
through the middle”, and for that reason, he considered they had often been simply outplayed.
But ”we had a much better second half” he added, suggesting his team-talk during
the break had served to right several wrongs.
Playing the maximum
This is the second phase of the Champions League, and Guardiola felt obliged to remind
listeners that “all these games are hard and evenly matched. They are all very good teams and
if you don’t play your best, then they’ll create problems for you”.
Márquez, 16 balls won
Guardiola wished to single out Rafa Márquez, who recovered no fewer than 16 balls. “He
is an extraordinary player. In games like these his quality improves considerably”.
In defence of Valdés
The Barça manager refused to accept that Juninho’s goal was the result of a Víctor
Valdés error. “It was a brilliant goal and not even seven goalkeepers would have stopped
it” he said.
Laporta: “We are on good course in this tie”
Joan Laporta, who travelled to the Stade de Gerland, said after the draw with Lyon that “we
are on good course in this tie”. The Barça president was pleased with the game, and pointed
out that they ”have home advantage” for the second leg. He did confess that he had been
mightily impressed by both Juninho and Benzema, but also praised Samuel Eto'o: “He is the
best striker in the world and we’ll do all we can to make him stay” he said.