The Blaugrana manager defended Barça’s style of play despite Barça’s difficulty in overcoming Celtic’s defensive approach to Wednesday’s Champions League match
“We read the game well, we created a lot of chances but we weren’t on target and their keeper was brilliant,” said Vilanova
Dijous, retorn a Barcelona
L’equip farà nit a Glasgow i tornarà a Barcelona aquest dijous al migdia. Els entrenaments tornaran divendres, a les 11 del matí a la Ciutat Esportiva, quan els jugadors començaran a preparar la visita de diumenge al camp del Mallorca.
Tito Vilanova analysed his team’s first defeat in the Champions League and he congratulated Celtic FC for tonight’s victory and the fans for the impressive atmosphere at Celtic Park.
Barça came up against a defensive side that left no space at the back for Catalans to exploit. The manager, however, believes that his team doesn’t need to change its style of play to win these types of matches. “We read the game well, we created a lot of chances but we weren’t on target and their keeper was brilliant.” Vilanova added: “We did what we needed to do in these types of games, we’ve seen this on other occasions. This is the type of football that the Barça fans want to see. Besides, I prefer to have an enjoyable time watching the team from the bench.”
“We depend on ourselves”
Vilanova knows that the team missed a good opportunity to clinch qualification to the next round of the competition. Despite the setback, the manager noted that “we have the privilege of depending solely on ourselves.” He added that if the Blaugrana manage to win their next Champions League match, against Spartak Moscow, that they’ll clinch qualification to the Last 16 of the competition.
The manager also praised his players for the effort they put in against Celtic: “I’m pleased because they gave it their all until the end.”