Rijkaard satisfied despite stalemate
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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Frank Rijkaard is still confident despite frustration at FC Barcelona's draw with Manchester United FC, while Sir Alex Ferguson bemoaned a lack of ball possession.
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Frank Rijkaard, Barcelona coach
It was a very even match. United were very well organised in defence and put together some good counterattacks. A victory is what we wanted obviously but the semi-final is still open. We're confident for the Old Trafford game. The team was good tonight and people are confident we can do it. It's not a good result but we hope to score there, although this second leg won't be easy for them either. The atmosphere, tension and crowd were fantastic tonight but I don't think this was our best match of the season. It was a high-level game and the crowd responded well.
Some of the players on the pitch hadn't played in a while; Deco made a big effort, we still have to keep an eye on [Lionel] Messi and [Thierry] Henry has just recovered from a bout of fever. I don't think about who are favourites – we do have a great chance so it'll be a great match against a great team. We have to carry on like this. United were quite defensive and the important thing is to carry on creating chances to score. I wasn't surprised by United being defensive and waiting to counterattack. The penalty was a big moment but fortunately Cristiano Ronaldo missed. It was a key point in the match but we worked hard. We will do all we can to reach the final.
Sir Alex Ferguson, United manager
Barcelona had a lot of possession but have had that in other games, especially at home. We're satisfied to leave with a clean sheet but we're a bit disappointed at the transition from defence to attack so I'm more concerned about our low ball possession. I don't think the penalty will be a key in the semi-finals. If we draw or lose we're out but I rely on our record at Old Trafford and the atmosphere at home, so that match will be different. The crowd at the Camp Nou was happy at the team's performance and there were no white hankies. I hope our crowd will be just as happy at Old Trafford. Barcelona have fantastic players and you know it's going to be a serious match but they didn't get any clear chances to score.
[Nemanja] Vidić has stomach pains and as our hotel was near to a hospital we took him there. They think he has a stomach infection and he has a slight chance of playing on Saturday [against Chelsea FC]. We know we had to change the defence and I opted for Wes Brown rather than Gerard Piqué because I didn't think it was fair on the boy to put him under the pressure of playing against his former club at the Camp Nou. We have to look at the positive side and the draw here isn't bad at all. I don't think we were fast or direct enough and we lost the ball too much tonight. We usually play better but we had to defend more and I thought Ronaldo could win the match himself but we didn't back him enough, despite most of our chances coming from him. We will definitely attack more in the second leg.