FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.09.2008 13:52

Márquez: "Vital for us to win"

Jesús Carrillo

Rafael Márquez admitted that he was pleased to have scored against Sporting Clube on Tuesday, but admitted that the team winning was the most important for him.

The Mexican international headed home the Blaugrana's first goal in the 3-1 win against the Portuguese visitors. "Right now, it was vital for us to win," he told reporters after training on Wednesday morning. "We needed three points and to play well. It does not matter how we played as much as the fact that we won. Sporting only broke through our defence on two occasions and overall I thought we did well at the back."

Winning ambition

Barça's second official win of the new campaign could be crucial, Márquez believes: "We put pressure on ourselves and we are conscious that a win was our only aim," he said. "At the moment we are not concerned with how many fans come along and watch because we know that when we are at our best everyone will want to come and see the team again."

Set pieces

Reflecting on his goal against Sporting, the defender continued: "We practiced that move on Tuesday morning. Now we work on the details more and not just have a set number of moves for free-kicks and corners, there are more variations, above all going forward. But I know that we need to improve more at set pieces when we are defeating."

Equal opportunities

Pep Guardiola's team selection process was put to Márquez and he thinks that everyone has a chance of playing. "The job of the coach is to value everyone equally and he shows that day-by-day, as much in training as in the dressing room. We all feel important and feel that we have a chance. Everyone has a great relationship whether they be players or coaching staff."

Creating chances

Márquez then stated that he believes that Barça have been harshly criticised. "I think it is strong, especially if you compare the amount of chance we are creating in comparison to the number of chances that teams create against us. This can create distrust. If we create 20 chances and have trouble scoring then everyone suffers. Against Sporting we began to change the situation that came about after the games in Krakow and Soria and against Racing."