After watching his side being held to a 0-0 draw at home to Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, Pep Guardiola has revealed that he was far from happy with the defensive minded display from the Blues.
Guardiola was clearly frustrated that his team were unable to break down the Chelsea defence despite putting pressure on them for the majority of the game. He then accused Guus Hiddink’s men of ‘constantly interrupting the game with fouls’.
The Barca boss then said that it was ‘ridiculous’ that both teams picked up the same amount of cards because all his side did was ‘attack and foul as little as possible’.
Overall, Guardiola admits that things didn’t go the way of his team tonight, in more ways than the performance of the referee. The former midfielder said that the ‘result is what it is’ though.
He seems to have accepted the fact that Chelsea played ‘very defensively’ with ‘six players defending’ to accommodate their disciplined approach to the game. As much as this frustrated Guardiola, it was the way Chelsea chose to perform.
Besides, it doesn’t leave Barcelona in the worst position. Yes, they would have liked to win the game, but they didn’t concede an away goal and this could end up being crucial.
If Guardiola was annoyed with the way Chelsea played in Spain, he should instruct his team to show them how it is done at Stamford Bridge next week. Barcelona can be positive, take the game to Chelsea and grab a goal. Then, Chelsea would need to score twice to go through.
Their cause will not be helped by the fact that centre-half Rafael Marquez will miss the rest of the season because of a knee injury though. Barcelona also have a big game this weekend against Real Madrid, so they certainly have a few things to worry about before the game next Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Guardiola and his men will be quietly confident of doing all they can to obey the current football odds by progressing to the Champions League final.
By Guest writer Thomas Rooney
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