Brazilian pride at Barcelona success

Thing of beauty
For Sylvinho, the goal, which sealed a 4-2 aggregate win and a UEFA Champions League quarter-final berth, was a thing of both joy and beauty. "I thought it was a really beautiful goal," explained the defender. "Whenever Ronnie is in possession I've always known to go looking for him and we link up naturally. I really enjoy playing on the same wing as Ronnie and this time it paid off for us. But it's worth adding that Xavi is on a wonderful run of form right now and his goals have been really important to us over the last six or seven weeks."

Messi blow
Known as one of the most cheerful, approachable and articulate footballers anywhere in the Primera División, Sylvinho was quick to move the focus away from the victory and the important progression to the last eight and focus his attention on the injury blow with which Lionel Messi and Barcelona have been hit. Diagnosing whether it is a hamstring or thigh muscle injury may take some time but the initial prognosis was that the Argentinian forward would face several weeks on the sidelines. "For everyone around the world it's Messi the footballer you miss when he's injured," Sylvinho said. "But for us in the dressing room it's much more. He's not just a great footballer, possibly one of the three or four best in the world, but a really lovely lad. We like him, we'll miss his personality and I'm really sad for him. I hope that we find that his recuperation process might be shorter than first thought. He'll get lots of support from his friends in the dressing room."

Draw looms
Now Barcelona, winners of this competition two years ago, can relax and wait for their quarter-final opponents to emerge from the draw a week on Friday. "The Champions League is a beautiful competition and very important to this club," Sylvinho confirmed. "It's a shame for Spain that Sevilla [FC] have gone out but the English are looking strong again."