FCBARCELONA.CAT

15.01.2010 15:07

Guardiola: “Focus is on Sevilla”

David Puig

Josep Guardiola was keen to focus only on FC Barcelona's game against Sevilla at the weekend and forget about all talk of his contract renewal.

The Blaugrana boss was again asked about talks between him and the club over a new deal, but the trainer was only concerned with the third meeting against the Andalucian outfit in eleven days. "The future is the game on Saturday," he told a press conference on Friday. "When the time is right we will talk calmly about my renewal.

"99 per cent of the players will stay here next season," he continued when asked about who he could see going in the summer. "They are all very good and happy here and the club is happy with them. There are no problems. The club is working and everything is stable."

Third consecutive party with the Seville

Barça will meet Sevilla for the third time in eleven days at the weekend but will not be out to avenge their Copa del Rey defeat. "It is not good to go into game with a feeling or revenge," Guardiola explained. "I think that the team has to play with calm heads. It is also not good to play against the same team three times. Now we both know each other well and I am sure that the game on Saturday will see things change again because all the players know what to expect. It can make some things easier and other things not so."

It distils hostess

Despite his players defending him, Guardiola insisted again on Friday that he was responsible for the team's elimination from the Copa del Rey. "I did not say that the fault was mine, but that I failed because I could not find solutions," he stated. "There were things that we did not do well over 180 minutes and we could not pass Sevilla and that is my responsibility."

Although Barça went out of the cup, Guardiola was pleased with his team's performance in midweek. "I was delighted with the performance and to lose is part of the game," he continued. "There is nothing good about going out, but we have to be proud because the players gave everything."

"Everything that it will be told on acquisitions is false"

Guardiola recognised that with Barça only playing one game a week then the focus could turn to other things to fill the gap and he wanted to deny there was going to be any transfer activity. "That is the worst thing about going out," he said. "There will be a lot more talk about acquisitions, transfers and the elections. This is bound to happen and I am not going to talk about it now. I would just to say in advance though that everything about new signings is false."