Rafa?
- Yes?
Good evening
- Good evening
Congratulations
- Thank you very much
Well, even if it’s a foreign team…it’s coached by a Spanish manager and with all the Spanish immigrants and that seems to ease the pain a bit…
- Yes, I think it helps to soothe the pain a bit, no?
Yes. Did everything play out the way you dreamed it?
- No, the truth is that we went through a phase where we couldn’t control the ball well and I didn’t like how the team was doing…
Don’t tell me that you’re going to complain now!!!
- No, no…I think that… we did well but it’s just that phase that we didn’t control and then we were better in the second half…the team reacted well, we had a bit more possession and we had better plays on the counter-attack.
What didn’t you like at the beginning?
- We were losing the ball too easily…not the first few minutes, we were good then…but after…I don’t know, 15…between 15 and 30 minutes we didn’t have much possession and we weren’t threatening much, no?
What called my attention a lot at the beginning was the ‘pressing’ you did, the first 10 or 12 minutes…you had the ball almost as much as Barça…
- Yeah, that was the idea at the beginning, no? And we did well but it’s very difficult to maintain a high level of pressure against Barcelona because they have a lot of quality and a lot of danger, no? And you know that if you press them too high up the pitch and they get away then you leave them with much open space to run and to make through passes…and if you stay too far back they can create you a lot of problems on dead ball situations.
Of course…But I was expecting something else, I thought that you were going to play Barça the same way Valencia did…sitting back…but I saw you come out, pressing high up the pitch and…yes they were coming forward with open spaces but then it’s been a match where you’ve played Barça face to face, eh?
- Well, we tried, at least…like I said… in the second half, after we spoke at half time about not being afraid to play the ball, we had to try to keep possession and we were surely going to find some gaps, no?... Although, of course, when Barça have the ball and start passing it around they make you run a lot and it’s not easy then to get there at the appropriate time, no?
And now you’re going to have to start studying how to prepare the second leg…because now it’s going to be a completely different match and approach…How to play Barça at home but…counter-attacking, no?
- Well, the truth is that we have to analyze it, like you said, because…it’s not easy, no?...they are good at counter-attacking…and the norm would be for us to attack at Anfield but then the result is to your advantage and perhaps you don’t have to go forward all out…they have players like Giuly or Messi who are very fast and with a couple of long balls towards them they can create a dangerous situation with one strike of the ball, no?
I get the feeling that your team get along very well…however, I read that you have ‘arrested’ 15 of them!
- [Laughs] No, no. The team get along very well, the atmosphere is very good…and during our training camp in Portugal the atmosphere was sensational…what happened is that, well, in our last day they got a bit disoriented…but then the next day they…
They got confused and they couldn’t find their way back, no!!!???
- [Laughs] Yes, what happened is that there were two vans…and it’s true… there were two vans and the players that got on the first one got there on time and the ones that waited for the second van got there late, so…
So then you should fine the driver!!!???
- [Laughs]Yes, him too…but he was a Portuguese…but then they said themselves that they understood the consequences and that they took responsibility and they fined themselves… so I didn’t have to tell them anything…in fact…
What, they fined themselves???
- Yes, the players themselves said that…since they have an internal regime…that they fined themselves and that’s it…in fact, in fact I’ll tell you more, I said to one player ‘I’m thinking X amount and he said ‘No, no, no…more’ and they upped the fine themselves, so I’m telling you that the atmosphere, and the players have behaved very well, despite those problems, no?
But, is the fine related to the vandalizing or that’s separate?
- There was no vandalizing. A lot of things were said that aren’t true…like Carra was singing with Gerrard and Carra wasn’t even there…Carra was in Liverpool because he had to leave early…nothing was destroyed there, I mean there were no incidents on the streets regarding any cars and broken glass, like I’ve heard out there…
I heard that also, that they broke…destroyed this and than…
- No, I’m telling you that’s not true and I tell you that later when I was at the Hotel and they got to the Hotel and the police was there…there was nothing too serious because I spoke to the police and everything was sorted out…and the truth is that it’s unlucky because this sort of incident is not uncommon and other times it doesn’t escalate and this time it was on the press and obviously you can’t deny it but it wasn’t as big as it was made out to be.
The two goalscorers…Bellamy and Riise…were two of the ‘arrested’…
- [Laughs] Yes it’s two of the ones that everyone was pointing their fingers at and I think it’s important for them to have scored…and, well, it’s a satisfaction because at least…many people were talking about them playing or not and I think that in this case the punishment was more a disciplinary issue…and on the sporting side it was down to getting the best team out there.
Hey, what are you doing tomorrow…do you give them the day off or not?
- No. We’re going to arrive and rest at our training complex and we’ll have a training session early in the morning…
So, tonight you get there and you stay…
- At our training facility…
You make them sleep over there…
- But it was their call. They’d rather do it like this because this way they train early…rest more hours and then get the rest of the day off because then we have another match on Saturday.
But, wait…I don’t want to hold you for too long because I know that it’s late and you have to go but you’re telling me they asked you to do it this way? That sort of thing here in Spain…either it’s not fashionable or there is a different kind of ‘professionals’ because…
- No, they understand it because they know they need to rest and they prefer to stay there instead of driving for half an hour or an hour to get home…and they’d rather stay there and get some rest, then train and then they have the rest of the day off…
Rafa, be safe, eh?
- Okay, thank you.
Goodbye
- Goodbye.
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taken from RAWK
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