Barcelona Football Club News

• Nickname:Barça
• Founded:1899
• Manager:Josep Guardiola

• Ground:Nou Camp
• Capacity:98,600

Guardiola unhappy with draw

29 Apr 2009 - 08:30:16

Click To Enlarge

Coach Pep Guardiola was bitterly disappointed after seeing his Barcelona side held to a goalless draw in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at home to Chelsea.

Guardiola was left frustrated by a defensively-minded Blues outfit who stifled Barca for much of the game and, in the Spaniard's opinion, also got away with a number of niggly fouls.

He said after the stalemate: "The players complained about the referee, they were upset about that.

"I don't complain about the referees, but I think the referee should see which team is attacking and which team is interrupting the play.

"We play clean, we foul as little as possible. We have the same amount of cards as them. It's not normal, it's not fair.

"We said before the game 'no hard tackles, no fouls, it's not necessary', but we attacked, attacked and attacked and it's ridiculous that we should end up with the same amount of cards as them.

"In the Champions League, small details decide games and could be the difference between winning or losing the tournament.

"Those things didn't go our way tonight - Chelsea were constantly interrupting play with fouls, while we played our normal attacking game.

"The result is what it is. Chelsea played very defensively, they were very disciplined and very strong with six players defending."

Meanwhile, Guardiola also confirmed that centre-half Rafael Marquez will miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury sustained on Tuesday evening.

"Rafa's loss is the worst thing about this but it will make us stronger," Guardiola added.

"He's sad and we'll try to lift him. It's a meniscus problem and we'll do tests, but he'll be out for the rest of the season."