26.08.2008 23:19
Guardiola: “Objective achieved”
Vanessa Forns
Despite losing to Wisla Krakow (1-0), Pep Guardiola was upbeat about the way the team played and was delighted that Barça will be playing in the Champions League.
The FC Barcelona first team lost their first game of the season tonight but the Barça manager was
happy with his players’ attitude and was delighted to have sealed passage into Europe’s
premier club competition: “I am very satisfied with the team’s behaviour” he said
. “The aim was to qualify for the Champions League and we did that. I am absolutely
delighted”.
“No complaints”
Guardiola admitted that the result of the first leg affected his approach to the game:
“We weren’t sure whether to attack or hold on to the result. We played thinking about
the 4-0 win in the first leg. In the second half we changed our tune”. He said it was not so
much about losing as “the way you lose. Of course a defeat hurts but in today’s case
there are no complaints. Generally speaking we played a good game”.
It might have been the first loss of the season, but for the FCB boss it was not “a
step in the wrong direction. Yes, we were lacking accuracy but we had an opponent that can play
too, and we had four or five chances against their keeper. We lost, but we could have drawn or even
won”.
League on their minds
On Wisla Krakow, Guardiola said they were “a very well organised team in which you can
sense the manager’s influence”, and knows that this season Barça will have to play many
games like this, “at difficult grounds against theoretically inferior opponents”. One
example could be next week’s trip to Numancia where “I am quite aware that playing
against newly promoted teams is always difficult”.
Major satisfaction
Guardiola ended his conference by reminding listeners that he was simply delighted that
“the team is in the Champions League! We have beaten a good team. I have seen so many games
like this that turn out to be complicated...”