Guardiola: We did everything we could
Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola feels his side could have done nothing more to overcome Chelsea and reach the Champions League final.
The Catalans came into last night’s semi-final second leg on the back of successive defeats, losing 1-0 to the Blues in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge and then suffering a home defeat to arch rivals Real Madrid.
Barcelona’s winless run stretched to three games at the Nou Camp as Chelsea somehow overcame John Terry’s first-half sending off to secure a 2-2 draw and progress to the Munich finale.
Guardiola seemed shell-shocked when he made his late appearance at the post-match press conference and unable to gather his thoughts.
“The first thing that crosses my mind is huge sadness,” he said. “I think we played exceptionally well and we have done everything we could to reach the final.
“Finals are great but we will have to watch this one on TV and I have to congratulate Chelsea because they were great defensively speaking.
“I think we failed because we did everything we could but we couldn’t score [another goal] and football is about scoring.
“They scored at key moments but having said that we have worked very hard to get here and there is always this possibility. You can win and get the trophy or you can lose and today we lost.
“Our last three games we have played well but it was not enough. The opposition was always there, very defensive and good on the counter-attack.
“Two years ago against Inter Milan it was very difficult for us to score, but this season we did everything we could but we didn’t score.
“They were able to score and I need to congratulate them, but I have this feeling that sometimes football is like this.”
Despite exiting at the semi-final stage, Barcelona fans cheered their players off the field in honour of their free-flowing, attacking display.
Guardiola was pleased with the team’s display but knows they need to get back winning sooner rather than later.
“I think we have changed the Barcelona fans, but of course we have to win again because people will get tired of applauding us and us not winning,” he said.
“But I believe people realised that we did everything we could because, even with 10 players, it is very difficult if we have them all there defensively.
“To be quite honest, I told you that you can get into the final with an irrational move. I think if we had gone in at half-time winning 2-0 we would have believed we could get it, but at 2-1 psychologically it was a little bad for us.
“We had the penalty and didn’t score and it is not easy to score. We have a peculiar way of playing and this is why the opposition adapts.”
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