31.08.2009 23:58
Guardiola pleased with Sporting display
Vanessa Forns
Pep Guardiola admitted that FC Barcelona did not produce their best performance to overcome Sporting de Gijón on Monday evening in Camp Nou, but was pleased with the display as it came so soon after the European Super Cup Final.
The Blaugrana coach was impressed after seeing Bojan Krkic, Seydou Keita and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all
score to open his team's league campaign with a convincing win. "The game was played out as
predicted after all the efforts of the other day," he told the media. "I cannot take anything away
from the team. It makes me happy that we played like this. Effort is al the players can give and
again they did that. We can play well or badly, but you have to always give everything."
Coaching compliments
Sporting put up a good performance themselves and Guardiola thinks that they will do well
this term. "They are a team that I have a lot of sympathy for," he explained. "They have a coach
that has courage and ambition and I am convinced that they will have a good season."
Media help
Guardiola then turned his attention to the assembled journalists and
told them they would have to become like the players and focus on one game at a a time. "I think it
would be best if the constant comments about how many trophies the team would win were stopped in
order to help the team," he stated. "Do not keep on with this because it does not help. If you want
to help stop asking about these things. If we win one trophy more it will be a good season."
Bojan and Maxwell
Bojan and Maxwell both limped out of the Sporting game and Guardiola explained what
was wrong. "It seems that Maxwell only has a small knock, while Bojan could be our for two or three
weeks," he said. "We will work with Bojan because we need him. I have the feeling that he has
stepped up. He is intuitive, prepared and has a lot of confidence when he is on the pitch.
"It would be negative if I thought that injuries would cause us problems. We do not have a
big squad, but we are united and when someone is injured we must only think about them recovering
and to know that there are people that can come in to play."
Keita and Ibrahimovic
On Keita and his impressive performance, Guardiola was full of praise. "His generosity has no
limits," he commented. "He is a player that gives so much and that improves as the game goes on.
This year he will play a lot." On Ibrahimovic scoring the coach added: "I am pleased he scored
today. He played for 90 minutes and that is also a good sign and now he will continue to work. He
is adapting and slowly-but-surely he will find his level."