Henry stays grounded as Barça fly high
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Article summary
The performance was dazzling, the scoreline foreboding and the room for improvement frightening, but Thierry Henry insists FC Barcelona will keep their feet on the ground after demolishing FC Basel 1893 5-0 last night.
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Fast start
Lionel Messi set the ball rolling in just the fourth minute and the visitors threatened an avalanche when Sergio Busquets and Bojan Krkić made it 3-0 with 22 minutes gone. Josep Guardiola's men were seemingly registering at will at that stage and they gave that impression again straight after the restart, with Bojan adding his second and Xavi Hernández completing the scoring less than three minutes after the return from the dressing rooms.
'Football is fragile'
Only a parade of missed opportunities drew away from a phenomenal display once the final whistle had sounded, but Henry was quick to urge caution. "Although we've been playing well for quite a while now, football is fragile," warned the 31-year-old, a 57th-minute substitute. "When you're on a good run like this, things can end very quickly. We want to carry on in the same vein and keep racking up victories. Our goal is to stay unbeaten, keep winning and go through as group leaders."
Squad rotation
The Catalan giants are the only team still boasting a 100 per cent record in this season's UEFA Champions League, and they maintained their three-point lead over Sporting Clube de Portugal to remain firmly on course for a berth in the knockout stages. All that despite – or, indeed, because of – Guardiola's insistence on squad rotation, a policy that consigned Henry, Andrés Iniesta and the in-form Samuel Eto'o to the bench in Switzerland. "As I've said since the start of the season, it doesn't matter who plays because this is a team that performs well whoever's playing," added the Frenchman. "We hope things will continue like that, but as you could see, whoever plays enjoys themselves."
Barcelona humility
That much was evident, with the Azulgrana comfortably superior to their hosts from start to finish. Former Arsenal FC and Juventus forward Henry was keen to reaffirm his team's discipline, however. "Above all, we're serious," he said. "We can talk about us enjoying ourselves, but first of all we take games seriously and we're humble. We came here wanting to win this match by working hard and that's what we did, all the while respecting a Basel side that it's never easy to get the better of at home."