Josep Guardiola reckons his team could face a similar encounter to their last league game at the Nou Camp against Xerez. Tenerife are also struggling against relegation and have no choice but to come and attack.
According to Guardiola, “it’ll be a similar game to the Xerez one. Tenerife have some
very dynamic players and they’ll not be frightened of coming to attack. They are a team
willing to take risks and I know that we have to be alert to that”.
Wary of in form Tenerife
The
boss also explained that he’d have preferred to have a little more time to prepare his
players following Saturday’s game, about which he commented: “winning after a defeat is
always positive, particularly at a tough ground” especially since: “Tenerife have taken
11 points from their last five games. They are a team who pressure you all over the pitch and if
they can they’ll come after you. They get a lot of players into the box and we have to show
them respect. We’ll have to keep our wits about us”.
Focus vital
Guardiola warned the players before the Xerez game that they shouldn’t let the prospect
of a Champions League semi final distract them from the job in hand and now he’s insisting
they don’t let the prospect of their tricky trip to Seville on Saturday sidetrack them from
the need to beat Tenerife: “maybe they’ll let the game against Seville distract them,
but there’s not much I can say to them now. We’ll try and play a good game.
There’s always the risk of the players losing their focus, but I think now that we are so
close, that won’t happen”.
Team are ready
The boss went on: “we are ready for this final stretch and we all know we have to give
it our everything until the final whistle. There’s no room for a slip up and we know that if
we take all nine points that are left, we’ll be league champions”.
Barca and Madrid both deserve the title
Guardiola
was generous towards the eternal rivals Real Madrid: “with these numbers, both of us maybe
deserve the title. When you look at the stats, both of us have lost so few games. Both of us should
finish the league with our heads held high for what we’ve achieved. The season we’ve
put in has been really admirable and in many ways unbeatable. I’ll go for my holidays with no
complaints at all”.
Ibra or Bojan?
With the debate about Ibra or Bojan filling the local media, Guardiola commented: “any
debates are good, but the truth is that both of them deserve to play. Ibra has great numbers this
season. We’ve come this far with effort of all of the players and I just want one last push
so that we can take the title”
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“I want Xavi to play in the World Cup”
After the Villarreal game, Guardiola warned that Xavi was carrying a number of knocks that could
put his participation in the World Cup at risk, but he insisted today that both he and Xavi wanted
him to play in South Africa: “I don’t want him to get injured, but Xavi knows his body
well and reckoned he was alright to turn out. Make no mistake, we both want him to be fit for the
World Cup”.