The Barça Manager isn’t resting any players with the Chelsea Champions League fixture in mind because “given our situation, the game with Levante is more important”. Guardiola believes they have to win at the Ciutat de València stadium because otherwise “we’ll have no chance of winning the League when we face Real Madrid”.
Barça are aiming to record their 10th consecutive victory against Getafe within the Spanish League. If they do so, they will temporarily close to within one point the distance with the leader, waiting for Real Madrid’s result.
FC Barcelona celebrated their 157th goal so far this season on Tuesday, which leaves Barça just one goal short of the record for a season under Guardiola, in the 2008/09 campaign. Messi, with 58 goals is the leading scorer, averaging 1.18 goals a game.
FC Barcelona Manager, Pep Guardiola, foresees an intense Spanish League match against Athletic Bilbao, a team that he qualified as the “Sensation of Europe”. Guardiola recognises that all teams need days of recovery between matches, but he believes that Bielsa’s squad will give their all on Saturday at the Camp Nou, despite having played on Thursday.
Barça took a 0-0 draw from Milan at the San Siro on Wednesday evening - leaving the return game at the Camp Nou to decide who gets through to the Champions League semi-final. AC Milan were hemmed into their own half, especially before the break and at the end of the game.
The Catalan Manager believes that the AC Milan vs FC Barcelona Champions League quarter-final match will test Barça’s resolve “to perform well in another tie”. He hopes to “have long spells of ball possession” to deactivate Ibrahimovic and the Italian’s offensive play, as they are “one of the best teams in the world”.
FC Barcelona Manager, Pep Guardiola, is still playing things cautiously despite the reduced distance between Barça and Real Madrid, the current Spanish League leaders. “I still think there are a lot of points to win back”, he said. He also highlighted how 15 of the 19 players picked to go to Mallorca are products of the club itself, coming from Barça’s La Masia football school.
Real Madrid dropped two more points with their second successive 1-1 draw against Villarreal in their last Spanish League game. After Barça’s win against Granada, the Catalans have reduce the gap from 10 to 6 points in only four days. The chase for the Spanish League’s leadership is livelier than ever.
The Barça manager reckons the real tests are only about to begin, in all of the Champions League, Spanish League and Cup. From now on, he warns, “there is no turning the page after any setbacks.” He also feels that it will be of benefit to everybody that the return leg of the Champions League quarter final against AC Milan will be at the Camp Nou. Besides, Guardiola said on Abidal that right now nothing is more important than “finding a solution to the illness he’s suffering so that he can carry on with his life”.
The FC Barcelona Captain, Carles Puyol, stated that Abidal is “in good spirits”. “He’s a strong person”, he added. “He showed strength last season and he’ll do it again now” insisted Puyol. Besides, the Barça captain doesn’t have a particular preference regarding the Champions League draw and playing against Real Madrid. Finally, he underlined that Guardiola’s decision on his contract renewal has to be respected.
Five goals from a stratospheric Messi and two more from Tello crushed Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou, to qualify FC Barcelona for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The 5 goals from Messi are an absolute record in the Champions League. Messi put Barça 2-0 up in the first half and completed his full-house in the closing stages, six minutes before Bayer Leverkusen scored their consolation goal in injury time. Two goals from the young Tello in the second half completed Barça’s score.
The Barça manager will not instruct his team to play defensively to protect the 1-3 lead they have over the Bayer Leverkusen. Guardiola admits that the Champions League “is a beautiful competition that allows us to take a break from the Spanish League”. On Piqué’s controversy related to the referees’ actions, Guardiola completely agrees with the FC Barcelona’s stance.
Barça came back from an early goal by Piatti for the visitors to bury Valencia with four goals from Messi and a fifth from Xavi to round off a fantastic performance that showed FC Barcelona are still up for the fight for the Spanish League title.
The Champions League returns at a good time for Barça following the weekend’s slip up in Pamplona, which left them 10 points adrift of the Spanish League leaders, Real Madrid, leaving no time for regrets, as they pick up the title they won at Wembley last season. Barça take up the defence of their Champions League title in Germany on Tuesday evening (20.45 CET), taking on Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16.
Barça have suffered their second defeat of the season away to an Osasuna side that made the most of their chances and adapted better to the freezing conditions. FC Barcelona were two goals down at half time but in the second half looked to have equalised when Alexis’s goal was ruled offside.