FC Barcelona’s assistant manager admits that “we intended to extend our advantage over Real Madrid,” but, despite the result, he’s pleased “with the team’s attitude.” He adds: “They fought until the end”
“It was a very complicated match. It’s always difficult here. The team worked hard and we had our chances,” says Roura
On the possible no-call penalty on Adriano at the end of the match: “the images are sufficiently clear and eloquent”
“This is the league. We came in with a 16-point gap and we wanted to extend our advantage over Real Madrid,” said Jordi Roura in the press room of the Santiago Bernabéu. After the match, the Blaugrana manager said, “we have to pleased with the team’s attitude. We had our chances of winning points. We’re coming off of a fairly difficult week and we had to play in a difficult stadium and the team fought until the end.” He added: “it was a very complicated match. The team worked hard and we had out chances. It’s obvious, however, that the result is what counts.”
Along the same lines, he said, “we’ve had a couple of hard weeks with a lot of very intense matches with few days to rest. But I don’t think we have a physical problem. Despite the result, we had our chances to win points.”
“We tried to control the game”
“We tried to always have control of the match and I think we did that throughout most of the game. We didn’t want the match to break down. But perhaps we weren’t solid enough in the first minutes, when Madrid were strong and very dangerous,” said Roura, who went on to say that’s why his team opted to retain the ball for longer periods of time. “Real Madrid’s style is to take advantage of your errors and that’s why it was important retain control.”
Lastly, on the possible penalty not called in the final minutes of the match, the assistant manager simply said that “the images are sufficiently clear and eloquent.”