It was Adriano’s first league goal with Barça and it was a vital one, but the Brazilian insisted that his scoring wasn’t the most important thing: “the vital thing was the win. At home, this team always makes things difficult and you have to fight to the end. We suffered a little, but it was worth it -we came away with three very important points”.

Happy with the result

Adriano also regretted the injury to Abidal, but insisted that the flurry of injuries was down to bad luck: “I don’t know why they’ve happened -we play a lot of games and we’ve had a lot of bad luck”. However the main sensation for Adriano was one of satisfaction: “we are coming away from here very happy with the result”.

Below are some of the other players’ post match comments:

Pedro Rodríguez

“It was difficult to adapt to my new position. I always try and help the team”.

“I’m happy to play –it all helps me learn”

“Our opponents find it hard to adapt to our systems”.


Víctor Valdés

“The team is really good. We controlled the ball well”.

“We have to adapt very quickly when we play with three at the back – there has to be a lot of communication”.

(Concerning the three games the team have gone without conceding a goal) “it’s a defensive merit of the whole team, from the striker on down”.

“It’s very good to win before a break. We now have to think about when we come back”.


Javier Mascherano

“We won an important game. We only managed a draw here last year and it’s always tough against Sporting”.

“We don’t have a lot of time to try out the various tactics, but the team do have some things we do automatically and we train to employ a variety of systems within one game”.

(About the knock he picked up before the break) “I got a bit dizzy, but I am fine now”.