20.01.2011 16:18

Guardiola: “You can’t win the league in January”

Sandra Sarmiento

Pep Guardiola has said the loss to Betis “will help the team grow” and that “there is a long way to go” before they win the league.

The publication ‘Relats del Mundial’, written by sportswriters, has raised 55,100 for the Clowns without Borders charity. Pep Guardiola has endorsed this sixth edition of the project by appearing at the closing ceremony at the Colet Museum in Barcelona, and used the occasion to explain that “you can’t win the league in January. There is a long way to go yet”.

Constructive defeat

Barça’s amazing run of 28 games without defeat, in which they have dazzled the football world, has finally come to an end. “That unbeaten run made everything look so easy, bit it was actually very tough. It’ll help us to improve. It will do us good for when we play Almeria … we knew how talented the Betis players are and knew what might happen. Imagine they had got to 3-0. You’re out of the cup”.

Close to the final

Guardiola felt there were positive conclusions to be drawn from the cup defeat. “It makes you appreciate everything we have done, it makes sense of things. And there is no way we would ever go into a cup match feeling over-confident. That’s the cup. Your opponent has nothing to lose and that’s why I have so much respect for Betis. But now we’re into the semi finals. They’re right upon us”.