Barcelona's manager Pep Guardiola believes his team is close to reaching the Champions League final
Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola believes that his team is just one step away from the final of the UEFA Champions League 2010-11.
Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-0 in the first-leg of the semi-final of UEFA Champions League at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 27, 2011. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 scored both of the goals as the Catalans took a two-away goal advantage for the second-leg.
Despite being in a strong position, Guardiola still has respect for Jose Mourinho’s men and has warned his team not to get carried away. He is aware that a lot of teams have gone on to overcome a bigger deficit than this in the past and Madrid are a quality
side, who have all the talent to win the tie.
Talking to the reporters Guardiola said, "We are one step away from the final but we are not at Wembley yet. We respect Real Madrid a lot and we know they are capable of anything so we won't underestimate them.
The former midfielder revealed that his team was hungry to beat Real Madrid after the Copa del Rey final defeat against them recently. Guardiola is delighted that he has 12 home grown players in the squad that won yesterday.
"We came here with 12 players from our youth academy, we're very proud of that fact. I believe we corrected some things we did wrong in the Cup [Copa del Rey] final. We're now 90 minutes from the Champions League final and we will try everything to get there."
added the former Barcelona midfielder
The 40-year-old believes that his team played a really balanced and controlled game and did not get carried away by Madrid’s aggression and negative tactics.
Guardiola refused to comment on the post match antics of his opposite number, Jose Mourinho. Both the managers had a heated exchange of words before the match, but the Spaniard insisted that he had nothing to say about his counterpart.
The second-leg will be played at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, May 3, 2011.
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