The Barca boss praised his team’s “attitude and willingness” in the Sporting game, though he admitted: “we didn’t take the right decisions when we should have sealed the game”.
Pep Guardiola had warned before the game that Sporting would pose a real danger and the Gijon team
proved him right. Barca needed to pull the stops out and Guardiola commented: “we were very
solid. We were facing very lively opponents with a great home record - not many teams win here. We
were very strong in defence and they had nothing more than a couple of long range shots”.
Happy with players’ attitude
Guardiola was more critical of his team’s inability to score
more: “we played well, but we didn’t take the right decisions when we should have
sealed the game. However I’m very happy with my players’ attitude and their willingness
to work hard”. True to his style, Guardiola refused to be drawn on the title race so early in
the season: “there’s a long way to go and every game is a tough one, with each team we
play in the fight for something”.
Praise for Puyol
Carles Puyol filled in for the injured Alves with his customary ability
and Guardiola took the opportunity to praise his captain: “we wouldn’t be where we are
this season without him He’s the player who’s performed most and he’s solving a
lot of problems”. The boss also spoke of Pedro - “he’s a great help and he moves
well and understands where his teammates are”, Marquez: “that was back to the old Rafa
– he needed to be physically fine and now he is” and Ibrahimovic –“ I want
him to be obsessed with scoring – I love it when he’s like that”.
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Laporta, “objective fulfilled”
Club President Joan Laporta summed up the team’s successful trips to Valladolid and Gijon in
their last two games: “we’ve had two away games and we’ve fulfilled our
objective”. Like Guardiola, Laporta wasn’t taking the league title as won just yet:
“there’s still a lot of league to go and we have to take things one step at a time. We
need to maintain the motivation of the team and that’s what’s happening at the
moment”.