Guardiola: “We have to pick ourselves up”
Fresh off FC Barcelona’s elimination from the Champions League by Inter Milan last night, coach Pep Guardiola in a break from his usual statements – match analysis – first and foremost wanted to convey his gratitude for the fans’ support.
“I want to thank everyone for all the support they have given us during the past few days, and throughout the year. I know it is a big letdown for everyone. They have been with us from the start, and with them by our side, we pushed ourselves more.”
Asked if the fans deserve an apology, the coach said,
“I don’t think we need to. We should if we had been playing badly, but we were not.
“All of us feel bad in not being able to fulfil their expectations.
“We had a good run in the Champions League, but now we are out. We have done very well, and we will be back next season.
“But for now, we’ll just have to pick ourselves up and get back on our feet, recover mentally and think about this Saturday’s match.
“We only have three days to prepare for Villarreal, and with just four matches left to be played for [in the League], we will have to regain our composure and deal with what we have left.”
Touching on the game, Guardiola acknowledged he was out-witted tactically by Mourinho’s ‘park the bus’ formation, especially after Thiago Motta was red-carded:
“We will never know if the expulsion has harmed or benefited us because with only ten players on the field, Inter barricaded themselves at the back, whereas we have tried to open the game up, using more of the wings, pushing more players forward, but we struggled a lot more playing against ten than it was when there were eleven of them on the pitch.
“When the other side defended as Inter did, with nine players (behind the ball), it is always difficult to break them down. Even (Diego) Milito and Eto’o played almost as wingers. It is necessary to open the space as much as possible and try to force our way through the middle but Messi was frustrated time and again. We controlled the game but it was not easy.”
Whether he was upset with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s performance when he replaced the Swedish centre-forward with Bojan Krkic, Guardiola said,
“I’m never disappointed with my players. I would, if they lacked in effort, which can happen sometimes as they are only humans, but the team worked hard from the very first minute, and they were impressive.
“Every one of them wanted to rise to the occasion as we want to win this and believe we can do it. We tried our best but we were just lacking that little bit; we lacked rhythm in our movements, in one on one battles, and every successful move lacked the finishing touch. It is the small details that marked the difference.”
Asked if he felt frustrated with Mourinho’s choice of game-plan, he disagreed with the assumption:
“I am not going to criticise his game-plan as that was not my intention. Every coach can play whatever way he chooses. Each one has the right to play according to how he feels the game is evolving.
“We hurt our chances in the first leg because of the volcanic ash [that forced the team to a 14-hour road trip].
“But then again, Inter deserves to be the winner and congratulation to them.”
Finally, he rejected the idea that FC Barcelona feels pressured to win something this season because they had swept all before them last season, and suffered as a result:
“When you have 87 points in the league and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League that is not a victim of our own success. This club knows how to win but it can also accept defeats graciously. In fact, it has lost a lot more than what it has won.”
****ing referee nailed us again, this is unbelievable…Bojan scored a 100% goal there
That was no red card for Motta….I think its easier to play 11 players then 10…
I dont get it from Guardiola…why is he playing with Keita..he is no Barca material..we need creativity in the midfield. I hope next season Iniesta & Xavi will be in the middle again. And NO Iniesta on the left. I hope Guardiola will play JDS & Thiago more when Iniesta or Xavi is out.
And please sell Ibra…i supported him the whole season but now ive seen enough of him…when we play with Bojan its so more dangerous. I hope next season it will be Pedro-Bojan-Messi. Or maybe sell Ibra and get Villa or Torres. Messi needs to be more on his right side…Messi+Alves right side is deadly!!
Everyone thinks Ibra is a world class striker because he scored 25 goals last season, but that was only his FIRST SEASON TO SCORE MORE THEN 20 GOALS IN 1 SEASON!! Why did we buy this guy…..
bcoz Ibra has already crossed 20 goals this season for us…
Waaa!!!!!!! Waaaaa!!!!!! Mama I want. I want. I want.
These are crybabies attitude. They will whine every time they don't have their way and forgot the mouth that feeds them.
well said pep, cant believe some people are criticizing him
Criticism always comes out when a loss is made but i believe that no matter what people say or criticize pep or a player or the whole team, we FCB did our best on the game and it ended up the way it should have, either if we won which everybody was looking towards or we lost which we couldnt think of ! Inter had a wall which is stronger than the separation wall between gaza and israel !!! Mouri knew that a little penetration would cause a big harm for him and his team, thus they chose to play by parking their bus in a defensive mode. But we played the best game and possessed the whole game, it wasnt meant for us this time !! Lets concetrate on the laliga final games.
NOTE: Bloody CR said he wants Barca to loose yesterday !!
To EazyE
This is not the time to turn on our own players.
We cannot win everything each season.
I cant wait to hear the players reactions.
I think Pep is always diplomatic
They did not replay or comment on the disallowed goal on the sports channel I was watching espn soccernet also didnt comment or analyze it, WAS IT A HANDBALL??? Is there a link I can watch please?
I am not keen on Villa, he is too old, and his form is dipping
I would much rather prefer Arguero because he can play upfront and in Iniesta`s position when he is injured.
Maybe some of the la masia talents will come thru.
4 games left in the league, we must stand behind our Team.
I am proud of how we fought last night, we were so close….
I believe in Barca and its philosophy and no loss will ever change that, this dissapointment will pass!!
Visca Pep!
Visca Barca!!!
sell ibra and buy villa pls. and also keita is not fast than toure. i hope toure is good than keita we need to have striker like villa pls
aguero is good too we need striker pls
sell ibra and get TORRES.
They may have lost the semi finals, but playing like that they will never loose my heart
and see him sidelined for the majority of the season?
Its all your fault pep immagine starlet santos to bench maxwell and yet that is the player pep went for, secondly after arsenal game i espect puyol as our left back against inter but pep loses his sence and playing that slugish maxwell in our defence. IBRASLUGISH, Stupid Maxwell and Chyngrisky are total waste of money. LUIZ FELIPE charge his club to court because of basa stil we can wait to sign him isntead waiting to sign useless cup tie chygrisky (2) pep should have renew eto contract and sign a left wing 2 go for another six trohpy but he distablize the team that won him six trophy and brought in useless player to our team, i believe this will teach him how to deal in transfer market. RESPECT to mourinho, he brought in lucio to his team because he need an experience leadership at the back line and sold his useless palyer to us, He also cash in 40 million euro plus our good striker infact pep is very stupid am not sorry to say.
dumb
I listened to some "football experts" and they saw what I saw, why substitute Zlatan when they have such a pressure, then you should use his size and strength in the target area, but why play around there? if they were sitting in Pique in the target area while Zlatan Ibrahimovic had been there it would have been much more difficult for Inter? Am I wrong? Bojan jeffren and are very talented and quick, but not in the same manner in the target area.
I thought the change was wrong?
what do you think?
Thank u F.C.B for the memories you have given 2 us fans! It's hard to se Inter go to the final but,, honestly they derservd it. So Good luck to inter And Samuel Eto. Thanks for this year Pep and thanks to the team . pure love to the team. Hope som players can play a little better when it's comes to this kind of matches but even when barca loose they loose with their head held high!! LOVE BARCA WE WILL BE BACK! PS*:`Barca won over Inter dont forget that.. and Even over REAL MADRID :d
* hands
I feel the same.. We are very proud over the barca players they deserv the best from us fans and do NOT critices our players people..
>no red card for Motta
You're right. It should have been his second yellow, which would have seen him sent off anyway. Busi's dramatics were shameful, but the result was the same.
Guardiola is pure class
oh, you are so right dude!
ibra is the worst lazy flop ever. and if pep cant see that im getting mad.
But we should play Pedro-Bojan-Messi. 3 attackers from our la masia. it wold create more speed and mobility to the front line. dont go out buying more players. i dont want barca to look like real madrid.
i dont know what i think of him? all he is doing is passing in the midfield and not running to the backline. sure we missed iniesta yesterday but a team like barca should have done better though.
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i will never respect anti- football, coward football, ultra defensiv football. every team plays these kind of " football " when they face us ! they should play like men with balls. even when we lose, we lose in style. we are the best team in the world, no doubt ! i am sure that this defeat will make us even stronger.
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mmmm from the wodrs Pep said about about Ibra I think he is not satisfied with him.I hope he put him on bench for next match to tell him that his place in the starting 11 is not sfae and if we do so I am sure we can have him back to his back.Remmember that last time Ibra stayed on bench he scored in the next 5 consecutive matches
Inter played the ugliest football in history… but, they're not to blame, they only defended their result from the first leg. Barca had one bad game and they've lost their spot in CL finals. One thing bothers me, Barca scored only 1 goal in the last 5 or 6 semifinals at Camp Nou. I won't say which player to buy and which to sell, but I must confess that I didn't like Ibra from the start . Also, Pep made some bad transfers, that's pure truth. Let's get our heads together and next season Barca will win everything again.
I totally agree with this point.
Pep should have some support for Ibra in the area instead of substituting him. :@
Game plan is the key for winning at this stage.o.0
He can't play with the same style over and over again when it is proven it can cause disaster.=/ Remember Rubin Kazan.:(
Pep need to change the rigid way of his tactic and utilize his player ability in a more efficient way.
05/06 winner 07/08 semi 08/09 winner 09/10 semi
We'll be back. remontada
its not fair to blaim ibra… our attack is not the problem… the problem we should solve is not to lose the ball in the back… OUR DEFENCE need to be better next season… we let in cheap goals… then we blame the forward… thats a weak arguments u have against ibra…
COMPLETELY agree with you on ibar,ship him out and chisgrinsky.get villa and id really love to see ribery on the left.ribery villa and messi would be a dream front 3 for me and use bojan as cover till he s good enough.or should i say even better
Quit whining! Some of you lot are just pathetic. This is football ladies and gentlemen, you win some and you lose some as well. I'm proud of every single player on the team. Stop blaming individuals like it is their fault. They all gave it 100% yesterday and it showed. Be gracious when you lose and give credit to the other team for beating you, regardless if it was fair or not! Those calls for selling players and buying others are just ridiculously pathetic, go support Madrid if that is what you want since they seem to buy a new team every season. Anyway, I'm sure it's only a few rotten apples that tarnish the image of Barca fans everywhere. Enough said, I will always be proud of my team, and every single player no matter what! Visca el Barca!
agreed
i always said we ned depth n quality there are some matches iniesta n a youngster can start n xavi n a youngster dont u realise since we dont av faith in marques n ukrainian this forces pep to play puyol pique alvez no back up . puyol agin abidal marques also not cuprised if he get sold this summer n milito agin we need to take into concideration depthn quality this summer what if milito n marquez injury re occurs if abidal alvez messi injured or maxwell .iniesta is fragile we need a next play maker nd a lw a goal scoring mf if we can get a lw na lb that like playing with eack oda like alvez n messi that will be gr8. or if we buy a goal scoring mf n a lw who is a not just fast free kick specialis that is a plus
yes but barca need to wake up in transfers n shoud c squad was small why sell n loan players n no replacement uh whats that uh the summer i wud promote gai tiago jds n a rb n still buy a lw n the squad will be happy in a roatation xavi messi n iniesta alvez need rest i belive thats why alvez under performs
Wear your colors loud and proud guys! Theres a reason why no team has won this tournament 2 years in a row. we had our special year and luck last year and this year just wasnt in the cards. If you really think about it, it was a rebuilding year… WE needed to offload eto'o and ibra was a good option, moneywise? no but we are notorious for overspending cause lets face it. we make so many good players we can stay debt free buy using and selling them. We have no leverage over any team in a transfer market so please get over the useless whining over ibra. He will preform (think henry) after an offseason with the team. Iniesta is were we have the biggest trouble. WE need him too much and dont trust our subs enough to sit him. He needs to be rested and treated with more caution than messi and then and only then will our team be stable. Next year only has room for improvement and if our core (Valdez, Pique, Xavi, Messi) return with fire then our more experienced and youthful players will all fall into place. no matter who we have supporting them out there. Heads up guys be proud of this team! I always will!
I wish Atletico Madrid win over Liverpool!! honor of Spain !