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16.11.2008 23:27
“Those three points have given us much more strength”
Vanessa Forns
Although he recognises that the three points Barça won in Huelva “strengthen the team” and mean “we are top for another week”, Josep Guardiola has remained as admirably prudent as ever, and said “no team wins the championship in November”.
Barça’s win at the Nuevo Colombino, along with the adverse results suffered by their most immediate rivals, means they stay top of the league for another week. But although the win on Sunday “was very important, the ninth in a row in this competition”, the Barça manager deserves respect for considering that prudence is the only virtue at this stage.
Keep on fighting
“They are three points that strengthen our position considerably, but no team wins the championship in November” he said. “Yes, we are top for yet another week, but if we aren’t careful, our opponents can overtake us again”. Guardiola knows that it is still early days and that now they need “to rest, prepare for the game with Getafe and keep fighting”.
An even game
Asked about the game, Guardiola considers it to have been a well-matched affair: “The game, as I expected, was very evenly balanced. Generally speaking, the team felt fine, and played with the right criteria.” He also felt his side “was in control of the game and the chances” but did admit it would have been nicer to have scored earlier. “When we went a goal up, we eased off a bit and that meant Recreativo had a couple of chances to score” he said.
Praise for Recreativo
Josep Guardiola was impressed by what he saw tonight from Recreativo Huelva, and feels that since Lucas Alcaraz arrived “they have let in very few goals and are always well positioned on the field”.
It was minor details that made the difference tonight, he felt, and “you never know how a game will develop. We knew that Recreativo are hard to play, they are a well organised team, and I’d like to congratulate them on the good game they played”.
Laporta highlights squad’s fighting spirit
The win against Recreativo Huelva was Barça’s ninth in a row, and president, Joan Laporta
observed afterwards that “there was enormous team spirit” and that his players
“showed humility and that’s the attitude we have to maintain. We have accumulated
experience in the past and know we can cool things down at any point.”
Laporta, was also pleased to see that the most direct rivals all sipped up, but felt that was irrelevant and that “we have to keep working along the same lines.” He also noticed that sometimes FC Barcelona looked like they were finding it hard to score, the reason being simply that “Recreativo are a very good team”.
Finally, asked about the unsettled events at Real Madrid, Joan Laporta wished to make it very clear that at Barça “we never make fun of the difficulties other teams are having”. It was his way of saying that Barça don’t like to worry about anybody other than themselves. “We always respect our rivals” he said. “We just want to win points and create a good image. On a football level, it has nothing to do with us”.
Laporta, was also pleased to see that the most direct rivals all sipped up, but felt that was irrelevant and that “we have to keep working along the same lines.” He also noticed that sometimes FC Barcelona looked like they were finding it hard to score, the reason being simply that “Recreativo are a very good team”.
Finally, asked about the unsettled events at Real Madrid, Joan Laporta wished to make it very clear that at Barça “we never make fun of the difficulties other teams are having”. It was his way of saying that Barça don’t like to worry about anybody other than themselves. “We always respect our rivals” he said. “We just want to win points and create a good image. On a football level, it has nothing to do with us”.
