There were no complaints from Pep Guardiola after the Villarreal game who reckons that the match will have strengthened his team for the future: “this team have a lot of self belief – this will make us stronger”.
Echoing his players’ comments, Guardiola accepted the draw as a fair result: “it was
all very tight and neither team dominated the game. There were periods when we were the better team
and times when Villarreal were. Both of us had chances, but I reckon a draw was a fair
result”.
Not a bad result
Guardiola stressed that a draw wasn’t a bad result: “we can
win games or lose them or draw. The important thing now is to fine tune s a few things and get
ready for Tuesday’s game”. The boss also refused to point a finger at the ref:
“we have to work on we can do and not worry about other things that we can’t
affect”.
Ibrahimovic
Ibrahimovic’s battle with Godin, in which the Barca striker seemed to be treated rather
less than fairly by the ref, was a point of discussion in the press conference and Guardiola
explained: “he’s a temperamental player. We need to keep an eye on that, because we
don’t want to end a game with 10 players. Ibrahimovic has to be strong and I know he can do
that because he’s a great player. He can’t control the ref’s decisions”
Satisfied with Henry and Jonathan
Guardiola praised Henry’s performance, claiming:
“he’s back to his best. He gave us depth and was great at losing his marker. He gave us
just what we needed”. Finally Guardiola also had words of praise for debutant Jonathon Dos
Santos: “I thought he did very well. He played at a high level in a tough game - he’s
also physically very strong”.
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Laporta: “It was a great game"
According to Club President Joan Laporta: “we always want to win, but our rival tonight
played in a similar way to us and did it very well. It was a great game between two great teams,
either of us could have won it. Villarreal area big team and have to be candidates for the title
– I think it’ll be between them Madrid, Seville, Valencia and Barca”. The
President also called on the fans to get behind the team as their support will be vital in the
second half of the season: “the fans are very important to lift the players. We’re
smack in the middle of a holiday period, but tonight the fans came along. We have to work hard and
keep up the motivation and the crowd will always be important for that”.