Pep Guardiola was unhappy to have to settle for a point, but was pleased at the way his players had battled. The game has served to show Barça are not unbeatable and Guardiola was also impressed with the way Sporting had approached it.
Barça have dropped two points at El Molinón, but can still come away with their heads held high.
Pep Guardiola described the 1-1 result as follows: “I am not satisfied with a point. If you
don’t win it’s not a good result. I’d have been satisfied if things hadn’t
gone as they did”. But the manager was happy with the way his team played, especially in the
second half: “Just because we’re Barça doesn’t mean we should always win, we can
lose or draw if that’s how it is. Insisting, insisting and insisting.”
Difficult opponent
The second half was a monologue of Barça pressure on a team enclosed in its own half.
Guardiola was impressed by the tactics deployed by Preciado. “I think Sporting played
perfect, Manolo approached the game well … We didn’t win but we did all we could to do
so. It is not easy to attack against ten defenders”. The Barça manager said he had
“expected a game like this … We knew they’d come out strong”.
No complaints
On the first half, when Barça were a goal down to Sporting, Pep
Guardiola said “we can’t judge it as a question of aggressiveness, after three years we
can’t go falling into that trap.” Neither did he feel the international break was to
blame. “At Barça you have to go out and compete every three days and these players have shown
they can do that millions of times”.
He then added that “I know why this game was much harder for us, it’s a question
of movements and we were lacking depth … we’re not unbeatable.” He went on to say
that “I have no complaints. We go all around Spain showing people who we are and that is
already enough.”
The winning streak
The draw at Sporting has brought an end to the stunning run of sixteen consecutive league
wins. Said Guardiola, “when a run like that comes to an end you value it even more, because
we have won at grounds like this … We should have to play in more places like this where the
team plays for their lives. It’s terribly tough to have to compete with them.”