Barca won El Classico after playing for the best pat of half an hour with just 10 men and boss Pep Guardiola pinpointed the team's “character and resilience” as key to the victory.
Barca ended the weekend back on top of La Liga after a hard won win
over Real Madrid. Guardiola insisted that playing against such a top side with just 10 men from the
62nd minute showed his team's “character and resilience. We know what we want, we've talked
about how we played against Inter and that's what we want to get back to”
Real Madrid's quality
Guardiola gave particular value to the win given the quality that Pellegrini's team showed on
the night: “Real Madrid put in a great game and they are a top team. They are the team who've
invested most money. They try and pass the ball and they can dominate possession or come at you on
the counter. If you look at them player by player, they are a high class team. Ever since I've been
a pro, I've always thought that Madrid are a a tough team to beat, even more so when they come
here. Beating them with 10 men is even more praiseworthy”.
“There's still a long way to go”
The three points from the win put Barca back on top, two points ahead of Madrid, but
Guardiola wasn't reading too much into that: “sure, we're ahead again, but there is a long
way to go yet. We knew we had to make a big effort and we did”.
“An intuitive action"
Guardiola also commented on Sergio Busquets' sending off: “it
could happen to anybody, even a more experienced player. It was an intuitive action. These things
can happen and they do. I felt good about the game we were playing in the second half till he went.
After that we tried to keep playing and to hold out with 10 against Madrid has a lot of
merit”.
Praise for Valdes and Puyol
Víctor Valdés was one of Barca's stars on the night, making a great save from Cristiano
Ronaldo in the first half and Guardiola told his post match press conference: “Victor is
always there at important moments. We are lucky that he has great stability. That was great
save”. Puyol also made a couple of last ditch tackles to keep Madrid at bay and Guardiola
commented: “he's playing as if he was just a twenty-year-old this season. He's
impeccable”.
Next test on Wednesday
Finally Guardiola insisted that Wednesday's game against Jerez would be a real test for the
team: “we've come through two emotionally highly charged games. Wednesday will be a test and
we'll see if we have a team that really wants to win things”.
Photos: Miguel Ruiz
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Laporta: “A fitting way to celebrate 110 years of our history”
Joan Laporta was clearly very satisfied with the win and commented: “this was a fitting way
to celebrate 110 years of our history. It encapsulated our history with moments of joy and
suffering just as we've had throughout our 110 years”.
Joan Laporta also praised Madrid: “they are a great team who came here to win the game
and played their best football. I liked them a lot and they are definitely the best team we've
played here so far”. Given that and the fact that the team were a man down for the last half
hour, Laporta insisted: “the players had to multiply their efforts and it was a very hard won
win”.
As to Ibrahimovic, Laporta reckons: “he made the difference. That's why we signed him
so that he would turn games like this around. He was marvellous”.
Finally, the President reflected on the last two games against Inter and Madrid: “we've
shown that more than ever the team is above any individual”.