Guardiola hurting after first failure
Reuters - Thursday 14 January 2010, 00:25
MADRID - Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola
did not hide his pain after the aura of invincibility
surrounding him and his team was finally cracked when they were
dumped out of the King's Cup by Sevilla on Wednesday.
The holders won the second leg of the last 16 tie 1-0 in
the Andalusian capital but a 2-1 defeat in last week's home leg
meant they were eliminated on the away goals rule, Guardiola's
first taste of failure since he took over last season.
"We are out and it hurts to be eliminated from this
competition," the 38-year-old said at a news conference.
"It's not good news, even if people will say that we can
now concentrate on La Liga and the Champions League," he added.
"In sport we are not taught how to lose and this has
affected us."
Barca, who can no longer match last year's feat of winning
an unprecedented six titles, were last eliminated from a
competition in April 2008 when they lost to Manchester United
in the Champions League semi-finals.
Guardiola had come under fire for using a weakened side in
the first leg but he fielded all his stars for the return,
including Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Xavi and Andres
Iniesta, and Barca came agonisingly close to going through.
Sevilla captain and goalkeeper Andres Palop was in stunning
form, producing at least four brilliant saves, and Messi was
denied by a post midway through the second half.
Guardiola blamed himself for the defeat but said he had
been pleased at the players' disappointment as it showed they
were still hungry for success.
"With this squad and these players maybe I should have got
more out of them in the Cup and not lost in the last 16 and I
am sorry that I failed," he said.
"It's a good sign that the dressing room is affected, that
it affects them to lose. I am happy about that," he addeed.
"I saw reactions in the dressing room that pleased me. This
shows we still have the hunger to win.
"We went down staying faithful to our style of play and now
we need to get ourselves together again for the future."
Barca's next match is also against Sevilla, a La Liga clash
at the Nou Camp on Saturday.