Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola said Friday he saw no reason to change his side’s attacking style of play in the wake of their loss to arch-rivals Real Madrid in the King’s Cup final. “It seems like we cling to the style as an excuse whenever we lose. The style has much to do with the idea of the club and the coach. It is something that should not be raised, it is what it is,” he told a news conference.
“This is the way I understand football and as long as I am here, this is the way it is going to be. “The King’s Cup defeat would worry me if we were doing badly, but I don’t see it that way. My feeling is that we are very close to winning the league and we are going to take part in another Champions League semi-final,” he added.
Barcelona’s possession-based game of quick touches and slick passing has been honed and refined from Johan Cruyff’s days as coach in the early 1990s up to Guardiola’s current side. Guardiola was a midfielder in Cruyff’s so-called “Dream Team” that won four straight league titles from 1991 to 1994.
Real Madrid’s Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo dashed Barcelona’s hopes of winning their second treble in three years with an extra-time header in the King’s Cup final on Wednesday in Valencia. Guardiola urged his side to bounce back from the defeat and focus on winning La Liga and the Champions League. Barcelona host Osasuna on Saturday in the league, where they are eight points ahead of second-place Real.
Barcelona will then travel to Madrid to face Real again on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. “The players have to react well because it is their job, it is their responsibility. If a player is sad, he should run further so that he gets over his disappointment,” said Guardiola.
“If a player is sad, I hope to get it right and not send him on the pitch. In sports you lose more than you win.”
