FCBARCELONA.CAT

02.01.2010 23:33

Guardiola: “This will make us stronger”

Roger Bogunyà

There were no complaints from Pep Guardiola after the Villarreal game who reckons that the match will have strengthened his team for the future: “this team have a lot of self belief – this will make us stronger”.

Echoing his players’ comments, Guardiola accepted the draw as a fair result: “it was all very tight and neither team dominated the game. There were periods when we were the better team and times when Villarreal were. Both of us had chances, but I reckon a draw was a fair result”.

Not a bad result

Guardiola stressed that a draw wasn’t a bad result: “we can win games or lose them or draw. The important thing now is to fine tune s a few things and get ready for Tuesday’s game”. The boss also refused to point a finger at the ref: “we have to work on we can do and not worry about other things that we can’t affect”.

Ibrahimovic

Ibrahimovic’s battle with Godin, in which the Barca striker seemed to be treated rather less than fairly by the ref, was a point of discussion in the press conference and Guardiola explained: “he’s a temperamental player. We need to keep an eye on that, because we don’t want to end a game with 10 players. Ibrahimovic has to be strong and I know he can do that because he’s a great player. He can’t control the ref’s decisions”

Satisfied with Henry and Jonathan

Guardiola praised Henry’s performance, claiming: “he’s back to his best. He gave us depth and was great at losing his marker. He gave us just what we needed”. Finally Guardiola also had words of praise for debutant Jonathon Dos Santos: “I thought he did very well. He played at a high level in a tough game - he’s also physically very strong”.