FCBARCELONA.CAT

14.04.2009 23:52

Vilanova: “At this level there aren’t any easy teams”

Vanessa Forns

Tito Vilanova, who substituted for Guardiola on the Barça bench on Tuesday evening, has no illusions about the task facing the team in the CL semi-finals: “There aren’t any easy teams”.

In the other quarterfinal second leg on Tuesday evening, between Liverpool and Chelsea, the London team managed by Guus Hiddink finally booked their place to face Barça in the semi-final after an epic clash in Stamford Bridge. But for Tito Vilanova, the identity of the opponent is not a vital issue: “At this level there aren’t any easy teams”.

Chelsea in attack mode

The Barça assistant coach explained: “At this point in the competition no particular team favours us. I don’t think you can say that either of the two would be easier than the other. Perhaps Chelsea is a more attacking team than el Liverpool, despite the fact that Liverpool also has some attacking players up front and is more organised”.

From the preliminary phase to the last four

Vilanova highlighted the merit of reaching the semi-finals after starting out in the preliminary qualifying phase: “We’re all very happy in the dressing room. We started out in the preliminary phase of the Champions League and now we’re in the semi-finals. We’ve gone from playing in the preliminary phase to be among the four best teams in Europe”.

Focus on Getafe

Barça is still in contention in three competitions and it will be necessary to refocus quickly ahead of the next match: “There’ll be time enough to think about the Champions League semi-finals. Now we have to focus on the next league match away to Getafe because maintaining or increasing our lead is at stake”.

“Every three days we’ll be playing a match that will influence our future. It won’t be easy but if the players are OK physically it’ll be easier to win at least one trophy”.

Match analysis

The Barça assistant coach described the match strategy in the Allianz Arena, based on control of the ball and wearing down the opposing players: “We knew that if we managed that then they would get tired, just as happened in the second half. We wanted to avoid fouls on the wings and to pay special attention to high balls”.

Communication with Guardiola

Josep Guardiola was banned from the bench after being sent off in the first leg. Asked if he had communicated with the head coach during match, Tito Vilanova was clear: “Guardiola had already prepared the match. On this type of ground, communication with the players is pretty complicated. But in any case, Juan Carlos watched the first half of the match with him and at the break told us what he thought about it”.