After tonight’s 3-0 win, Josep Guardiola explained that as Héctor Cúper’s side is so hard to get goals against, he opted to field as many offensive players as he could at the Camp Nou. “It is never easy to score against teams that field so many men at the back. It was a game in which, given the difficulties, we played well, and seriously, and so I’m very pleased” he said.

Win after the break

The victory came on the back of an international break, on which Guardiola said “the next time we lose or draw they’ll be talking about the FIFA virus again. We were lucky we were playing at home. It might have been harder if we’d been away. But whatever happens, we never put it down to that … It was very hard for us tonight, that’s inevitable, we just have to have the capacity to deal with this kind of situation”.

Home goals

Barça have scored 21 league goals in games at the Camp Nou this year without conceding any. But the manager reckons it is “more important to know that the people who came here had a good time.”
He was also pleased with Andrés Iniesta’s return to action, saying that “you should have seen him in training this week! He just wants to feel happy. He’s a different kind of player, a jewel. I hope he can help us a lot.”

Piqué injured

The bad news was Piqué getting a hamstring injury, on which Guardiola commented that “these things happen. It’s got nothing to do with the national team,. I’m sorry for him, he’s really upset, like all the other injured players.”

Back to Champions League

On Wednesday’s game with Viktoria Plzen, Guardiola said he has no plans to rest anybody because “you don’t play around with the Champions League. I shall field the best team I can to win the match. We have two games ahead that offer a great chance to ensure qualification”.