FCBARCELONA.CAT

24.09.2008 22:45

“These wins are worth more than winning 6-1”

Roger Bogunya

Guardiola has said that wins like the one against Betis are more important than those by a wide margin, like the one on Sunday in Gijón. He believes it is games like this that will teach his players not to relax ahead of future challenges.

Guardiola was delighted by the way team reacted after Betis pulled back from 2-0 down. “The team changed things around when it became 2-2 and unlike against Racing, when they also equalised against us, Betis didn’t close us down and we managed to react well”.

From 2-0 to 2-2… why?

Asked how Betis had been allowed to come back from 2-0 down, Guardiola was clear in his words. “There was a drop in the tension after the break” he said. “That is when you have to quickly reconnect to the game, something we did not do. We let things go a bit and failed to find our rhythm. In the second half, we also suffered physically as a result of the number of games we have behind us.”

Decisive changes

Asked about the substitutions, he said Busquets and Gudjohnsen went on in the 70th minute because “we were losing our presence in midfield … I wanted to create more rhythm. Also Touré was on a yellow and I was scared of ending up with ten men.”

Bojan went on six minutes later. Guardiola said that was because “I know how much Bojan enjoys this stadium and he can generate a good atmosphere on the pitch.” Speaking more generally, the manager added that “changes are made because you think they’ll work. Sometimes you get it right and other times you blow it.”