10.04.2010 23:59
Guardiola urges caution
Vanessa Forns
Although he was obviously happy with his team’s win at the Bernabeu, Pep Guardiola warned: “we’ve taken an important step, but there’s still a world of games ahead of us to play”.
Guardiola showed his typical humility and prudence, insisting: “the team’s happy and we
are very relaxed. There are still a lot of games to play before the league is over, though we knew
it was important to win here”.
“A long way to go still”
Guardiola reiterated that: “everything is done and dusted yet, there are still plenty
of points to play for – next week’s two games will be fundamental. This win will be
worth it if we end up champions – we’re not there yet and we have a few tough games
ahead. We need to keep on playing as we have been – there’s still a long way to
go”.
An honour to win at the Bernabeu
The win itself was clearly important to the boss, regardless of what effect it has on the
title race: “we came to the home of the league leaders who’d won all 15 games here so
far this season. I give a lot of value to winning this one – it’s an honour to come
here and win. They’ve got 77 points and that’s incredible”.
Hard fought win
Commenting on the way the game worked out, the boss reckoned:
“Madrid are a team who can kill you on the break. The pitch was a bit slippery, but after the
goal we calmed things down and had more control. It was a very hard fought game against a team full
of great players, who are impressive all over the pitch. We set ourselves the objective of being
true to ourselves, which we were”.
Players are the secret to success
Asked what the secret of the team was, Guardiola revealed: “we’ve got good
players. I try and make sure that they all run and that they help each other, but there
aren’t many secrets – I work hard, work long hours and I’ve got good players.
They know that if they don’t run, I’ll let them know and since they don’t like
that, they work all the harder”.
Cristiano still without a goal against Barca
Cristiano Ronaldo has still to break his duck against Barca, but Guardiola was quick to
praise the Madrid striker: “he’s an enormous talent, very strong. We tried to isolate
him and keep him away from the game. He’s very dangerous when we have the ball, because they
find him very quickly if we lose it and he’s hard to stop then. Just because he’s not
scored against us yet doesn’t mean he’s not a very good player”.