The win, together with Madrid’s defeat to Sporting, puts Barça in a stronger than ever position at the head of the table, but Guardiola stressed: “leagues are won when they are finally won, if you think you’ve won before that, you can end up losing it”.

“Madrid will fight to the end”

The boss is certain that “Madrid are Madrid and they will fight to the end, we’ve taken a good lead –the biggest we’ve had so far this season, but in sport bigger leads have been lost. If we see ourselves as champions with an eight point lead and eight games still to play- we can only lose it. There are some very tough games still to come”.

“A terrific win”

Looking back at the game Against Villarreal, Guardiola expressed himself particularly satisfied with: “having beaten the third place side, a great team who play very good football. We beat the third place side and we made them run. They created chances because they are a very good team and we were very alert to their counter attacks. We didn’t have many chances, but our priority was control, it’s a terrific victory”.

After praising Valdés for his great save, Guardiola also spoke of Thiago, who started his first league game against Villarreal: “in general all the players were at a good level. Thiago has a personality that means he doesn’t get frightened and looks for the ball. He was splendid and gave some great promise for the future. He put in an excellent game”.

Confidence in the youngsters

Once again, Guardiola expressed his confidence in the youngsters coming through the reserves: “it’s a pity if in a big side like ours you have to lament the players who were absent. We will call on the reserves when we need them, we are a small squad, but we have the reserve team players who are coming on really well. They are a guarantee”.

Declarations to Italian media

Guardiola also clarified his recent declarations to Italian TV, when he was reported as saying his time at the Club was coming to an end: “I said nothing new. The reporter didn’t do what we had agreed. I was a bit stupid and he was very clever- let’s leave it at that. I spoke to him because I still have a soft spot for Brescia. I simply said that when you have been in charge for four years, you are obviously closer to the end. That’s only normal, somebody else will eventually take my place”.