FCBARCELONA.CAT

12.12.2009 23:32

Alves: "We played a practical game"

Anna Segura

Dani Alves knows that the game against Espanyol wasn’t “the beautiful game”, but the team’s attitude and style were enough to get the three points.

Dani Alves is one of the players with most derby experience. When the Brazilian played for Seville, he already got that derby feeling from the clashes he was involved in against the city’s other team Betis. So he values the Saturday’s win: “It’s always important to win a derby. It’s important not to let your rival beat you at home”.

A tired Barça

Barça must now be feeling worn-out after the amount of games played recently. Alves thinks it was wise to play practically, even though the game wasn’t brilliant. The Brazilian is one of the Blaugranes who has played most minutes, though he claims “the more I play, the better I am”.

A great start

Alves claimed he didn’t think much about Barça’s great start to the league,
He just gets on with his job: “We live to win. It’s what we work for. It’s not so important that we haven’t lost for a long time. We’re always looking to the next match, not looking back”.

Below we reproduce comments from other players after the match.

Pedro:

"It was a complicated game. Evenly matched, but we won in the end, which is what matters”.

“It’s important because we stay at the top. We fought hard for the three points”.

“I’ve never scored in the Clubs World Cup. I hope I can”.

Carles Puyol:

“We have our way of playing and we’ll stick by it. Till now, we’ve won a lot with it”.

“About the penalty, Xavi told me he’d been grabbed”.

“We were ready for a difficult game, with a lot of intensity and physical contact. It wasn’t a great game, but the three points are what count”.

“Now we need to focus on the Clubs World Cup. It’s an important tournament for us”.

Maxwell:

"I hadn’t played for ages. It was crucial to get three points”.

"I kept trying to find Ibra as he kept moving into the spaces. I’m happy because we played in a hard game”.

Ibrahimovic:

"It was a hard and a fraught match. The second half was the worst”.

"The coach wanted me to play more on the inside. It’s easier to play when you get the ball fed to you”.

Piqué:

"It feels good because derbies are tough, and winning lifts your morale”.

"We struggled a little in the second half because they didn’t let us play our game with their pressure”.

“The number of games we’ve played does weigh down on us, but it’s not an excuse”.

Xavi:

"It was a penalty. Baena grabbed me. It was going to head the ball and I couldn’t”.

“They came to stop us developing our play. They defended well, but they didn’t do anything in attack”.

“It was an ugly game, but we pulled through”.

“It was a fiercely contested game. They put a lot of pressure on our attack with good individual marking”.

“The Clubs World Cup? It’s the only cup left for us to win. We really want to get it. We want to make history”.

Iniesta:

"It was very intense. A typical derby. They pressurised us a lot. But it was a good one to play in because we got the three points”.

“We had the challenge of getting to the Clubs World Cup, and we’ve done it. Now we need to rest and focus on winning it, which would be great”.

“There are ups and downs, but I think the team is on great form”.