http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Barcelona-c39078 coach, Tito Vilanova, played down any suggestions that his team was lucky last night in their Champions League qualifier
It was a tricky game for Barcelona as Celtic came into the match with the belief that they could upset the home side or at least come away with a point.
Barcelona got an early scare when Celtic went ahead on the 18th minute, thanks to an own goal by central defender, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071.
The visitors could not hold on to their early lead until the interval. In the dying minutes of the first half, Andres Iniesta got the equalizer for Barca as he found the back of the net from inside the area.
Celtic were now determined to hold on to the stalemate as they put all most of their men behind the ball.
The Catalans were feeling the pressure and time was of the essence as the game was approaching its final moments.
Then finally the breakthrough came http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604.
Tito Vilanova was happy with the result and has praised the performance of his players.
However, he dismissed suggestions that Barcelona were lucky at the night and insists his team was rather unlucky not to finish off the game earlier on.
“I don’t think it was luck. On the contrary, I thought we were unlucky. We deserved to win before that, their goalkeeper played very well and we hit a post,” he said at the press conference.
The coach feels his team had created enough chances to win the game before Alba’s last minute winner.
“We had the possession and the opportunities but they were powerful on the counter-attack and in the air. We then played with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629 at centre-forward and with two wide men, although that did not mean we could neglect the
defence.”
The 44-year-old also commented on how Celtic came into this game. He believes they were very defence minded as they put too many players behind the ball.
“Well, they have accused us of being boring before now. Not anymore.”
21-year-old centre back, Marc Bartra, was given his first start of the season as both centre-backs, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Pique, were missing for injuries.
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