His team may have been knocked out of the Spanish Cup but Josep Guardiola is proud of the way they fell: “We’re not invincible. We had to lose some time”.
Speaking at the post match press conference the Barça manager was clearly disappointed at the
result but absolved his players of any blame: “I have the feeling that I’ve failed
them, that I have to take them further. I have the luck to manage some fantastic players. We
shouldn’t go out in the R16. With this squad I have the obligation to do better. I missed
something”.
"We have to learn"
He insisted that his players had approached the game with the correct attitude: “We
played our game and kept trying until the end. I’m very proud of these players. I saw
reactions in the dressing room that make me happy. It’s a good sign that a team doesn’t
like to lose. We did well but we didn’t go through and that’s difficult to accept. When
this happens we have to learn”.
Guardiola does not believe in chance and is convinced that for Barça not to be in the
quarterfinals something must have gone wrong: “We looked good. We could have gone through but
if we didn’t it’s because we did something wrong. We’ll try and correct
it”.
Congratulations to Sevilla
Guardiola denied that the tie had been lost in the first leg and congratulated Sevilla on
their victory: “They deserved to win the tie. They’re a marvellous team with a strong
squad. The missing players weren’t noticed”.
The match
As for the match itself, Guardiola was less pleased with the first half
performance believing that his players were in too much of a hurry to score. However, the second
half performance was different matter and the team remained true to their style of football:
“Now we have to recover for the future”.
Focussed on the league and Europe
Finally, he looked ahead to the rest of the season. “Let’s see how we react.
We’re not used to having long weeks. I suppose we’ll be more rested though tiredness is
in the head. We’ll have to accept it. Now I won’t have to rotate the squad so much.
We’ll focus on the two competitions that are left to us”.
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Laporta: "We gave a good account of ourselves"
Joan Laporta told reporters after the match: “I’m prouder than ever of the team. We
gave a good account of ourselves”. He also suggested that the disappointment would motivate
the players in the future.
Joan Laporta congratulated Sevilla on their victory: “It’s been a great tie.
We’ve all enjoyed it and also suffered. The match in the Sánchez Pizjuán was exciting, the
kind of match that brings people to football”.