“I’m sticking with the good game we played,” said Tito Vilanova when asked to give his impressions on tonight’s match against Real Madrid. The manager added that “we dominated and we created chances to score. I think Madrid’s two goals were scored at the right time [for them].” The Catalan knows that his team could have won by a larger margin but he simply said “we have the tie in our favour and we’ll go to the Barnabéu to fight for the title.”
From the 4-1 to the 3-2
Vilanova played down the fact that his team very nearly went 4-1 up just before Madrid pulled one back to make it 3-2. “The result isn’t definitive for either side. It’s good that we won but we could have ended the match with a larger margin of victory yet, in the end, the result was pretty tight.” The manager added that “the result is not definitive”
On the play that led to the 3-2, the manager defended Valdés and explained that Barça’s fundamental system of play revolves around the keeper being able to play the ball with his feet. “We asked him to do that. If he boots the ball down the field we wouldn’t have any semblance of a passing style of play,” said Vilanova. “During these years he’s given us a lot and he’s helped us build our play up from the back.”
“Pedro is a dependable player”
Vilanova praised the man that scored the equaliser moments after Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener, Perdo Rodíguez: “he’s doing well emotionally and physically. I hope he can have an injury-free year. He’s a very dependable player. He helps the team a lot on offense and when he plays, he usually scores.”
