Future is bright for Guardiola

FC Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola said his side's 5-0 win away to FC Basel 1893 "augers well for the future" as the Catalan side maintained their perfect start in Group C. Basel coach Christian Gross was already thinking of the return fixture at the Camp Nou in a fortnight's time, admitting his side will "have to react swiftly" from this setback.

Josep Guardiola, Barcelona coach
Of course we played better than Basel tonight, but the Swiss champions are not a weak team. It was clear they were the better team [in their 2-0 defeat] against Sporting [on Matchday 2]. The early second goal made it easier for us and was possible because we gave our all right from the beginning. Giving everything is the only way of showing your opponent the respect they deserve. We wanted to move the ball along the flanks and that worked out very well for us.

We must not be fooled by the big margin of victory – we have to continue to work hard. We have had an important win that augers well for the future. It is definitely a luxury to have players like Bojan, who scored twice, but all Barcelona's players are luxuries to me. Bojan deserved to start today as he is working very hard at the moment and is in good form. People ask me over and over again if the rotation policy I am employing is good. I say the answer is in the result. I will never play a player I do not trust 100 per cent.

Christian Gross, Basel coach
We had prepared well, but unfortunately the game was put beyond doubt very early on. If you are fall behind so early against a team as strong as Barcelona, it's very difficult to get back into the match. What happened to us today will happen to other teams as well. Club Atlético de Madrid lost 6-1 to Barcelona.

We couldn't find an answer to the problems Barcelona posed us tonight and they showed up our current limitations. We couldn't stop Dani Alves at the back. His influence on Barcelona's game was far too great and the dribbling skills and pace of the Spanish forwards was too much for us. On top of that, Barcelona's midfield did a lot to enhance their dominance. We were too weak when they had possession and we simply cannot afford to be against an opposition of this class. We now have to react swiftly. We need a good result in the league to give the team confidence again so we can put in an improved performance in Barcelona in two weeks' time.