05.02.2011 23:59

“48 points from 48 has a lot of merit”

Vanessa Forns

Pep Guardiola reacted to his team’s record breaking win against Atletico Madrid by declaring: “getting 48 points from 48 has a lot of merit – this is a fantastic record!”

Responding to the record 16 wins on the run that beats the record set by Madrid in the 1960-61 season, Guardiola told the media at his post match press conference: “this is a fantastic record because it’s 50 years since it was set”, whilst stressing: “you need to play really well and also run a lot” to set such a record.

Messi key to success

Guardiola reckoned Leo Messi has been key to the record breaking run: “we wouldn’t be who we are now without him. We’d still be a good team, but this guy is at a different level. All history’s great teams have had a special player and that’s what Messi is for us. We are very lucky to have him here when he’s still only 23. Just look at the match up with Agüero tonight, because that shows the strength of our team, but Leo also knows that without the rest of the team, he couldn’t be what he is now”.

The boss added that in both training and in matches: “he’s so competitive – and that makes us all competitive too. He’ll set his own objectives. We have to ensure he feels comfortable”. Reacting to the Atletico Madrid manager’s affirmation that Messi is ”the Di Stefano of the 21st century”, Guardiola called the compliment: “an honour”.

Not completely satisfied

Turning to the game itself, Guardiola claimed that although he was generally satisfied: “there are things we didn’t do well. We had a few difficulties in playing our game. We didn’t attack really well and Forlan coming on made things tougher for us. I’m not completely thrilled because I don’t think we played that well. We were not that sharp and the pitch isn’t quite in the best condition which also makes it worse for us”.