25.09.2010 23:52

Keita: “We showed character”

Anna Segura

Keita found the net a year later and was delighted with Barça’s win at the difficult ground that San Mamés always is.

Josep Guardiola, before the side faced Bilbao, had already warned of the difficulty of travelling to San Mamés. And on Saturday we got a further taste of the enormous pressure that the Basque fans can create, which was one of the reasons why Seydou Keita, scorer of the opening goal, was so happy with the win.

Midfield goals

Keita, Xavi and Sergio Busquets, all midfielders, scored the goals in Bilbao. The Malian said “it is very important for the team that the midfield players can also score”.

Keita was also asked about the fans’ reaction to the red card shown issued to Amorebieta for a foul on Iniesta. “Andrés is a great person and a great player. But it’s only normal for the crowd to boo him if they don’t think it was a foul”.

“The team is strong”

Barça have just taken six points from tough road trips to Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, and Keita said “it is important to win here because it’s never easy. These are tough grounds and the players have to be strong … and we were missing Leo!”

These were some of the comments made by other players:

Alves:

“It was a difficult game with a lot of pressure from the crowd. But we have the personality and courage”.

“The important thing was to stick to our philosophy, and we’ll die with it”.

“We have to think of ourselves and not bother ourselves with what other teams are doing”.

Valdés:

“ We knew before the start that this was our chance (Madrid had drawn). We need to wait for these chances and today was one”.

“Athletic v Barça games have always been intense. They’re special games and I remember that the games we have played with them have always been nice”.