26.01.2011 23:58

“A great result, but we’re not in the final”

Vanessa Forns

Josep Guardiola was well satisfied with the team’s 5-0 win over Almeria on Wednesday night,but insisted that the experience against Betis in the last round means:"out of respect for our opponents and for ourselves,we’ll be going there to try and win"

The win leaves Barça in pole position to make the Cup Final and although Guardiola admitted: •it’s a great result•”, the game in Seville is still fresh in his mind and he warned: “we could be 3-0 down in the first 14 minutes”. The boss didn’t want to hear any talk of a possible final against Madrid: “we have to take the second leg with maximum seriousness. If we fall into the trap, then we won’t have learnt our lesson”.

Respect

“It does no good to say we are already into the final. Obviously a 5.0 is a big result, but out of respect for our opponents and for ourselves, we have to go there and try and win to make the Final. We have to go down there and play and treat it with maximum seriousness”.

Key tactics

It was an excellent performance from Guardiola’s men, who were 4-0 up at the break before Keita’s late goal made it five and the boss commented on the tactics his players used: “football is a game that depends very much on the way your opponents play. We made good moves from defence to attack and created a lot of chances that way”.

Lillo and Oltra

Almeria have changed managers since the last time they played Barça, with Oltra taking over from Lillo and Guardiola explained the difference between the two: “they both seem like good teams, but Lillo’s tale a more zonal approach and Oltra’s are more individual”.

Pitch worries

Guardiola also expressed his hope that with a few days without a home game coming up, the pitch at the Nou Camp would get the chance to improve: “we hope that with the break in games at the Stadium, the pitch will be able to improve. We’ll have to work hard at it because it’s not quite right. Maybe the result has even more merit if you bear that in mind”.

Sergio Busquets

Finally, Guardiola touched on Sergio Busquets’ contract renewal: “it’s one of the best bits of news we could get. He’s a very experienced player, it’s great that Sergio will be at this club for so long. He’s one of those players who because of the way he plays will I’m sure help the new foreign players who come in and will take over the roles of the older players once they have left”.