Pep Guardiola reckons he never doubted his team’s ability to bounce back from last week’s games, claiming: “these players are worth their weight in gold”.
Rosell: “the team still has a lot to give us”
Club President Sandro Rosell underlined the sacrifice the team showed in beating Bilbao: “all
of the players brought all they could to the game when it turned difficult and they all did really
well. This team still has a lot to give us”. The President also praised Bilbao, claiming:
“they are a great rival, with home grown players – an example for us all. We are happy
to have played against a club with the same model and culture of bringing through home grown
players as we ourselves have”.
Before the game began, the roller hockey, futsal and basketball teams came out onto the Nou
Camp pitch to offer to the fans the trophies they have recently won. Sandro Rosell was very pleased
with this and commented: “on the sporting front, the Club is looking very healthy because all
of our sections are enjoying success”. Finally, the President also underlined the
satisfaction he felt at Pep Guardiola’s new contract deal:”it’s great news for
all Barça fans – we’ve got Pep for another year and a half and we are very happy with
that”.
The boss has never voiced any complaint about his players in the three years he’s been in
charge and he reaffirmed his faith in them after Sunday night’s game against Bilbao when he
spoke to the media in the Ricard Maxenchs press room.
Guardiola was firm in his support for his team, claiming: “this was another
demonstration of what these players are all about. They are worth their weight in gold and whatever
happens, wherever we find ourselves at the end of the season, I won’t change my opinion of
them an inch. I could never question this team”.
High expectations
Guardiola knows the atmosphere around the Club can sometimes slip into
criticism at the slightest stumble , but he also knows that his job is to analyse the games as well
as the results: “I know what happened with our game, I know what occurs when you get a couple
of poor results if you are a big team the only way to get any peace is through results”.
Five points ahead of Madrid
Barça are again five points ahead of Madrid and the boss also reminded journalists that when
Mourinho’s team came to the Nou Camp: “they were a point below us and now we are five
ahead of them… it’s incredible that we are five points ahead of that team at this stage
of the season…. They are a great side and we have to value what we have done over the last
three years “.
Bilbao
Turning to the Bilbao game, Guardiola insisted: “it’s hard
to attack against nine players and a keeper and after a good first half the fans really got behind
us after the possible penalty on Leo – that helped us get back into the game again”.
Optimistic about Valdés and Puyol
The team played against Bilbao without two of their talismanic figures Víctor
Valdés and Carles Puyol, who are both injured, but Guardiola was optimistic about getting the two
back soon: “I don’t think it’ll be long before they come back”, and though
he wasn’t sure they’d be available for the trip to Mallorca, he claimed: “the
prospect isn’t that they will be out for two months!”