FCBARCELONA.CAT

24.02.2009 23:42

Guardiola: “It was a very good lesson”

Anna Segura

The Barça manager has drawn in conclusions from tonight’s match at Olympique Lyon, and feels his side lost control of the ball in the first half: “It is the game from which I can draw the most conclusions for the future” he observed.

Josep Guardiola was convinced enough that a 1-1 draw can go down as a good result, and they had achieved the most important thing, which was “to score an away goal”.

Conclusions

But he also admitted that had seen a lot of things tonight “from which I can draw conclusions for the future.” He said that especially after what he had seen in the first half, he had “some clear things” to say to the players. “If they understand, we’ll be fighting for everything” he added.

Disorder in first half

He was not impressed at all to witness the lack of order in the way his players dealt with the first 45 minutes. “We were very wide apart and left them space to come through the middle”, and for that reason, he considered they had often been simply outplayed.

But ”we had a much better second half” he added, suggesting his team-talk during the break had served to right several wrongs.

Playing the maximum

This is the second phase of the Champions League, and Guardiola felt obliged to remind listeners that “all these games are hard and evenly matched. They are all very good teams and if you don’t play your best, then they’ll create problems for you”.

Márquez, 16 balls won

Guardiola wished to single out Rafa Márquez, who recovered no fewer than 16 balls. “He is an extraordinary player. In games like these his quality improves considerably”.

In defence of Valdés

The Barça manager refused to accept that Juninho’s goal was the result of a Víctor Valdés error. “It was a brilliant goal and not even seven goalkeepers would have stopped it” he said.