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31.01.2007 17:10
"We know exactly what we have to do in Zaragoza"
It was a disappointing night for Frank Rijkaard after seeing his side lose the first leg of their Cup quarter final, but he also knows that they still have every chance of turning the tie around when they visit the Aragonese capital.
The Barça coach was ready to accept that his side's second half performance left plenty to be desired. "We needed to put a lot more pressure on them" he said. "But we did not. But we know exactly what we have to do in Zaragoza. We have only one choice and that is to win".
Still the return
Frank Rijkaard knows that this was the just the first of a two-match series. "It was a defeat" he said. "But it is as if we have only played the first half of the match. The team will work hard to qualify. It's a good thing that we have so much time to get ready for the return leg".
Barça cornered
Zaragoza's goal came from a corner, and the Dutchman feels that "that can only mean that we weren't marking Diogo properly. He is a player who doesn't usually come forwards, he tends to stay back". But Rijkaard does not want to hear of any alarm bells sounding quite yet in reaction to way his side is leaking goals of late. "If we look at the statistics" he observes, "I don't think Barça are letting in more goals than any of the other teams".
Taking off Zambrotta
Gio substituted defender Zambrotta in the 60th minute, despite the fact that the Italian seemed to be having a good game. Frank explained his reasoning in that "during the break, Zambrotta told me he was only going to last about 15 minutes more on the pitch". So, it was more of a precautionary measure that the Dutch full back came on in place of his Italian team-mate.
Laporta confident of comeback
The Barcelona president is confident that the team "will turn the tie around at La Romareda. There are 180 minutes, there is the return leg yet to come. We have to hope we have a good game there. It looks like they have us sussed. They always make life difficult for us. We fought hard but they took their chance from a corner."
Joan Laporta also spoke of the imminent returns of Samuel Eto'o and Leo Messi, although he was cautious in the words he used. "Messi and Eto'o are two very important members of the team that we have been unfortunate enough not to have had available. Now let's hope that both of their recoveries end well, because they will be useful for the team and need to get back into the rhythm of playing." Finally, Laporta spoke about the forthcoming league trip to Osasuna, in which he does not think the team will suffer any after-effects of tonight's defeat. "We are going to Pamplona, where we know we have a very important match" he said. "We are on top of the table and I don't think this will affect us because that is another totally different competition."
