Speaking after his side’s elimination from the Champions League, FC Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola expressed disappointment at the result, but not with how his team played over the two legs of the semi-final against Chelsea. “It wasn’t meant to be this year. The first thing that goes through my head is immense sorrow,” said the Barça manager. Despite the great disappointment, the blaugrana boss analyzed the two-legged tie with the following words: “forgive me if I’m not clairvoyant, but I have the perception that with time I’ll say: ‘we played an excellent tie.’ We played exceptionally well for 180 minutes, we did everything we could to be in the final. We’ve never worked this hard to be in a final.”

He added that his team needs to analyze the game against Chelsea as “we have to know what we did wrong and correct it. With the 2-0 we didn’t stop, we kept on attacking. No one can have everything. It can be a lesson that you learn with time.”

Guardiola congratulated Chelsea “for their defensive work, courage, I wish them good luck in the final.” Despite the defeat, he was clear and honest: “we failed because we didn’t score [more goals]. However, we worked very hard to be here.” According to the manager, “the important thing is that we made it here and we were once again very, very close.”

He underlined that “the 2-1 wasn’t good for us psychologically. We went out in the second half, we had a penalty, and they were reinforced.” He added with resignation: “we saw a repeat of the same story in London, they scored in the 45+1 minute.”

Guardiola thanked the fans for their support. “The fans, simply spectacular. They carried us and I’m very thankful to them. They also saw that we gave it our all. Perhaps we have changed their mentality but we have to win once again,” said the manager, with a smile. He added, “tonight it was beautiful, the fans were with the team, supporting us, applauding the players despite the final score, it’s special, it’s different.” Asked about Lionel Messi, Guardiola underlined that “we are here because of this kid (Messi) so I always thank him for his efforts. I want to thank him for everything he’s done, my admiration for him is insurmountable. He’s an example to us all on how to be better each day.”

Barça now have four games left in La Liga and the final of the King’s Cup. The manager said simply that “other teams goes to Munich, now we start to think about next season.” Pep Guardiola added that “we have to value the emotional aspect of the players  and see how we can recover them.”

When asked about his possible contract renewal and the future of the Barcelona team next season, Guardiola said: “Together with Tito we will meet with President [Sandro Rosell] in the coming days and we’ll decide on what’s best for the club. Obviously, now it’s time to talk about it.”

Finally asked by a journalist, “what would you say to a kid who cried for the first time because of Barca?”, Guardiola added with smile: “welcome to the club.”

Source: fcbarcelona.cat, Picture credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images