Rijkaard talks up Barcelona graft

Frank Rijkaard's pleasure at FC Barcelona's 2-0 win at VfB Stuttgart was only tempered by injuries that forced off Rafael Márquez and his replacement Carles Puyol. Puyol had opened the scoring, with Lionel Messi making the game safe to move the Spanish club on to six points alongside Rangers FC. Stuttgart have lost both their games but their coach Armin Veh admitted the visitors were deserved winners.

Armin Veh, Stuttgart coach
We knew it would be a difficult match because Barcelona are on a run. It is obviously difficult against a team with so many good players. We attacked aggressively and had our chances to take the lead. The second half started well, too, but then something happened that must not happen: we conceded a goal from a dead-ball situation. After that it was difficult, Barça closed down the space and deservedly won the match. My team fought well but did not have the necessary luck. Given the current situation I'm not displeased with the performance.

Frank Rijkaard, Barcelona coach
It was important that we got a result today. Too bad that we have two injured players now, but it's not that bad with Puyol. We started well, had some chances, but chose the one-on-one too often when closing down in the area which strengthened our opponents. We should have decided the match by then but did not manage to do so. Stuttgart reacted well and that's why our goalkeeper's saves were so important. Our problem is that we have many great players but they sometimes think it's all coming to them without work. We still have to work very hard. [Eric] Abidal and [Andrés] Iniesta were our best players today. Ronaldinho has worked very hard in recent weeks and I was quite pleased with him too.