Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola: We Expected A Tough Match Against Sporting

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola confesses he knew his side would be in for a difficult match against Sporting at El Molinon.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admitted his side expected a difficult match against Sporting at El Molinon, and that the home side played well.

A superb individual goal from David Barral early in the contest gave the Rojiblancos a lead to defend, and they were only denied all three points by David Villa’s late lob which secured a draw for the champions.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Guardiola praised the hosts and also defended his own team selection, with Sergio Busquets and Pedro initially rested with the midweek trip to Arsenal in the Champions League in mind.

He said: “At home Sporting are a very strong team, and it showed. For them, I have much respect. They produced a great game, we knew that they would be very strong, and now we have to recover to play in London.

“The fault is not with the team, when you are at this club you know you will have to play every three days. In sport there are always things to overcome. One can have a better run than others. We may lose this league, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, but we will make sure that we fight until the end.”