FC Barcelona’s coach J. Guardiola:
“we fully deserved to go through. We played against a team that have a lot of importance and history. We’ve earned everything that we’ve achieved”
“They were penalties. We didn’t complain in the away leg (where Alexis was hauled down in the box), and we won’t complain now,” said Guardiola. He added that “grabbing players in the area should be penalized and they are penalties. On television, it’s a penalty.”
“They only shot on goal three times, we shot 21 times. We had a lot of goalscoring chances and we did it with a three and four-man defence. We played against a team that have a lot of importance and history. We’ve earned everything we’ve achieved, just like we earned it there [Milan].”
This will be FC Barcelona’s fifth consecutive semifinal in the Champions League, the fourth with Guardiola on the bench. The manager believes that this feat shows “the power of the Club. It’s an achievement to maintain this level.” Also, that behind Barça’s consistency is “a lot of hard work,”no one has gifted the team anything.
AC Milan’s coach M. Allegri:
“I would have liked to start the second half at 1-1. The team played a great game. We started badly for the first 10 minutes and the third goal really took a lot out of us even though the team tried to get back going”.
“They did well in the first 10 minutes and we knew that it would be really tough for us here. We knew that but we’ve grown in Europe compared to last year and that’s a good thing. Maxi Lopez did well when he came on as he always does”.
“We slipped up on the first penalty but the second one ahs the referees print on it. Obviously I would have preferred to get to half time with the score at 1-1 rather than with the team nervous about the penalty incident. It’s the third game that Boateng has played, the same for Robinho and they’re getting fitter and that’s a good sign for the league”.
“Cassano will train tomorrow with the group and it’s important that he’s been given the all clear. Now we’ll see what kind of shape he’s in.”
