FCBARCELONA.CAT

04.03.2007 01:11

“The defeat could be a lesson for Liverpool”

“There’s no time to think too much. We know what to expect against Liverpool. It’s the best time to face up to the Champions League game”. This being Frank Rijkaard’s reaction to Saturday’s game.

The blaugrana coach believes “Sevilla deserved the victory”, although he also mentioned that “we dominated the first half an hour up until the penalty miss”. However, he did not forget to mention the game against Liverpool and therefore the defeat at the Sanchez Pizjuan “can be a lesson. I’m not going to cry about the defeat, I’ve already said that it will not decide the Liga. It’s a shame not to have won, but we have to remain positive. In general we started well, we dominated the first half an hour until the penalty miss and the build up play was good. Against 10, the three man defence didn’t work well, It’s our fault.

Lost Occasion

“We had the opportunity and we didn’t take advantage of it”, commented Rijkaard analyzing their fourth defeat of the season. “We started well; controlling the game well, however, when they were reduced to 10, they moved up a gear. It was a chance lost”.

Red card. A psychological advantage

The Dutch coach spoke also of the psychological advantage which followed the justified sending off of Aitor Ocio; “In general, when you play against 11 and someone is dent off, you naturally relax a little. Sevilla deserved to win and fought well for it. They play well and capitalise on opponents’ errors, they are well organized and disciplined. They continued playing hard and we failed to finish off the game when we had the chance”.

“We win together and lose together”

Finally, Frank Rijkaard spoke in defence of his players and did not want to stoke the fire: “I don’t like to blame one player. The goals conceded are a consequence of errors of the team regarding aggressiveness or not being attentive. We win together and lose together. I hope it’s a lesson we can all learn from going into Tuesday0s game as Liverpool Hill fight like Sevilla”.