Barcelona were eliminated from the Champions League and will continue their European campaign in the knock-out stages of the Europa League.
In an interview that appeared on Mundo Deportivo, Pep Guardiola defended the Spanish teams that were knocked out of Europe’s elite club competition, including the Blaugrana:
“In the last 20-25 years the teams that have dominated Europe have been Spanish. Barcelona, Madrid, Atlético, Sevilla, Valencia in this era have always been there. One year they didn’t qualify, that is football. They are not failures. They tried and next year they’ll come back stronger.”
“It is a very difficult competition. We always talk about it. You can’t take qualification for granted despite the reputation you have,” he added.
The former Barcelona coach believes that the margin of error in the Champions League is very low:
“It demands a lot from you in a very short space of time. If you get it wrong once or twice you can be knocked out.”
GSFN | Tom Cserép
