Guardiola: ‘In 180 minutes we were the just winners. The fact is that we played a great tie and we qualified for the semifinals. We would have preferred to have fewer problems against Madrid, it’s difficult to beat them’
Guardiola: ‘We knew that in Madrid’s situation they had to fight back, and to fight back you have to go on offence. I’m proud of the way these players competed. It’s not easy to face off against Real Madrid and that’s why the run against them is meritorious. My player’s behaviour was spectacular’
Cesc: ‘FC Barcelona are where we wanted to be – in the Cup semi-final, sitting second and trying to catch Madrid in the league and waiting for the Champions League to start again. I’m proud of the team over the whole 180 minutes against Real Madrid’
Cesc: ‘Our team will come away strengthened from the games. It’s always complicated to beat Madrid. They looked very strong to me, but that didn’t surprise us – we knew they are an awesome rival when they play at their best. We did our homework and we won the Cup quarter final against rivals who are always difficult’
Xavi: ‘We suffered more than we thought we would against a super team, even though we dominated up until the 15th minute of the second half. At the Bernabéu we were superior, today, not so much, but be won the tie. It’s time to enjoy it and celebrate’
Xavi: ‘The Cule supporters were with us and the mosaic started us off in spectacular fashion. Sometimes you forget what this team is accomplishing, but it’s extremely difficult and we have to enjoy it. Seeing how difficult it was to reach the semis, we enjoy it all the more’
– I have heard a good number of Cule fans being over-critical with FC Barcelona’s performance last night. It’s obvious Madrid improved on their previous performances but let’s not go crazy here: Barça was still the better team out there if you take both games into consideration. Plus, Madrid still looked more like Chuck Norris and less like Zidane.
The current FCB squad has made us used to 5-0 easy victories in spectacular fashion. News flash: That can’t happen forever. Other teams evolve, study our game-plan and, whether we like it or not, it will come a point when others will find the antidote to stop our winning streak. I’m not being overly pessimistic here: Just realistic.
Barça is not just about winning titles. Victory is obviously important, but being faithful to our style and believe in attacking football despite adversity. Yes, it was difficult to see Los Blancos attacking at the Camp Nou, it hurt deep inside to see Puyol outrun by Benzema or Ronalda, my heart suffered when Pinto found it hard to play the ball on the floor but, let’s be clear: FC BARCELONA qualified and, from now on, Merengue fans will watch this season’s Copa Del Rey on TV. End of story. Time to move on.
This is a time to praise of players’ efforts. Celebrate the fact that, despite spending over 300MILLeu in recent seasons, we are still better than Real Madrid with a team full of La Masia graduates.
FC BARCELONA: THE WELL-DESERVED SEMIFINALISTS OF THIS SEASON’S COPA DEL REY!!!!!!!!!
