Josep Guardiola reckons that the key to Barca’s performance against Seville was that every player, from the defence to the attack played their part: “everybody did everything – that’s the way we have to do things!”
Guardiola stressed that in tonight’s game: “everybody helped each other out and the
fact that we did everything is what makes us such an admirable team”.
For Guardiola: “we played 90 minutes at the same level as we played the second half on
Wednesday. When we play as we can, we are a team who can compete with anybody. Today we saw the
intensity and the desire of all the players for the whole game”.
Messi’s 100 goals
Messi’s century was one of the key issues of the game and
Guardiola commented: “you just have to congratulate him. It’s amazing at his age.
It’s in his hands to break all the records. What we all like about him is his endless
ambition. I can tell he wants more. The figures show what a great trajectory he’s had and
he’s a great example for future generations”.
“We recovered the essence of our style”
Guardiola was especially happy with the way the players reacted tonight after
Wednesday’s cup elimination: “we came out strong in the first half, but we rushed
things a bit in front of goal. The first goal calmed us down and we recovered the essence of our
style. If you make as many chances as we did, then you’ve played well. Now we’ll take a
couple of days rest and then get back to work”.
Winter Champions doesn’t faze the boss
Madrid’s defeat in Bilbao means that Barca will be mathematically champions at the half
way stage of the season, but with so many games left to play this season, Guardiola wasn’t
letting that go to his head: “it’s just an anecdote and you don’t get any prizes
for that”.
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Laporta: “the team is showing such pride in themselves”
Joan Laporta was especially proud of the team’s performance, particularly given the
disappointment of the Cup knock out: “it was great game in which Barca continued to show a
great level of effort and hard work. This team will always bounce back from disappointments”.
Sr Laporta continued: “the squad show pride in themselves every game. Tonight the
players worked hard and they worked as a team”.
Barca now have a five point lead at the top, but the President stressed the importance of the
team maintaining focus on their own performances: “we just have to worry about ourselves and
not look at what other teams are doing”.