Jordi Alba: "We're confident that we'll bounce back"

Jordi Alba / PHOTO: MIGUEL RUIZ - FCB
The left back says that a “draw would have been the fairest result” against Real Madrid

On FC Barcelona’s upcoming matches, the Catalan notes: “We have to give it our all and even more so when we play against Milan. We have confidence in ourselves”

Alba, Villa and Song

Jordi Alba, David Villa and Alex Song won’t return to Barcelona with the team. The three Barça players were given permission to not return with the team.

After this afternoon’s match, FC Barcelona hold a 13-point advantage over Real Madrid in the league. Alba, who spoke to the press after the match, said: “we’re leaving without any points but we know we have a good advantage over Atlético and Real Madrid.” In addition, he said, “it was a fairly equal match and a draw would have been the fairest result.” After two bad results against Madrid, the full back said, “we have to give it our all and even more so against Milan. We have confidence in ourselves.”

Looking forward

“We managed to have possession, but they hurt us on set pieces and long balls,” said Alba. The full back, however, would like to move on after today’s defeat to Madrid: “we need to leave this behind and focus on the match against Deportivo and Milan.”

Alba also explained his gesture to the Madrid fans after Messi’s goal: “my gesture to the fans wasn’t bad, I used my index finger to show that Messi is the best in the world and that he deserves the praise.”

Piqué, disappointed but confident

Gerard Piqué, who also talked to the press after the match, declared: “we were a little better today than we were at the Camp Nou, but we have to give a lot more of ourselves.” He added: “we weren’t fluid like we usually are and we’re missing certain things. We’ve had these bad moments when we won a lot of titles, but we have to end this poor streak as soon as possible … I don’t think it’s the right moment to criticize our style of play, we’ve secured a lot of good results with it.”

The Blaugrana centre back didn’t hide his disappointment with this afternoon’s defeat at the Bernabéu: “we know that when you come to the Bernabéu you have to be very superior to Real Madrid in order to win.” Despite the setback, Piqué wants to focus on the future: “we’re confident that we’ll eliminate Milan, but first we have to defeat Deportivo … we have the right team to get out of this situation.”