© EuroFootball.com
"Barcelona's head coach Tito Vilanova held his first press conference on Friday since his throat surgery. Almost 100 journalists from various newspapers and television stations gathered in the room to applaud the 44-year-old strategist. Immediately after briefly taking over the team at the helm after the New Year, T. Vilanova went to the United States for further treatment and returned to Barcelona only three weeks ago. The coach apologized to the journalists for not being able to communicate with them for so long, citing health reasons for his prolonged silence.
"I never intended to hide from the media, but even after returning from the US, I could not communicate right away. After the treatment, temporary events affected me, I had to rest my voice. Sooner or later this press conference had to happen, but events in Munich hurried everything," Catalan stated. According to the coach, Barcelona deserved to lose to Bayern, but the difference was too much.
"Now we will try to resist and fight until the end. We will seek victory honorably, even if it does not guarantee us a ticket to the final at Wembley Stadium. Equally important is to win the Spanish championship as quickly as possible. It doesn’t matter when and where it happens - maybe in an away game against Bilbao Athletic or a match at home against Real Betis Sevilla," emphasized T. Vilanova.
"Every day I feel better. I have the desire and motivation to continue training Barcelona, so if my health allows, I will stay in the club. Now my doctors say that the best thing I can do is to work. It is strange when someone rushes to announce the end of the Barca era. The team has reached the Champions League semi-finals six times in a row, won the tournament twice in a very short time, and is one step away from the fourth Spanish championship trophy in five years. It is too early to talk about the end of an era. We will try to reach the Champions League semi-final for the seventh consecutive year next year," smiled the 44-year-old specialist.
"I never thought about retiring. In the United States, I lacked activity, lacked the team, even though I constantly communicated with the players through modern communication means. I fully understand that when I had to temporarily withdraw, the situation in the club was not very good, but I am grateful to the leaders - I would have justified any decision, but Barcelona was waiting for me," said the coach.
"Barcelona's manager rushed to deny the constantly spreading rumors in the media that there will be a kind of 'cleaning of ranks' in the team this summer. Some magazines claimed that the Catalan club could be joined by 6 or 8 newcomers. According to T. Vilanova, this is not true: 'We do not intend to carry out any cleaning. The changes needed in the team will be targeted. Many people imagine that it is very easy to find a center-back who fits Barca, but that is not the case. There are many good defenders, but it does not mean they will play reliably in Barca. I do not want to talk more about possible changes. It is just not the right time now, and it would be unfair to the current team members," explained the coach.
"I would like to thank my assistants Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira. They did a tremendous job. Many people think that they did not do well, but they had to take on the burden of responsibility that should have been on me. They handled their tasks properly," the coach could not praise his closest assistants enough.
It is not yet clear whether the Frenchman Eric Abidal, who will play for the team next season after a liver transplant, and goalkeeper Victor Valdes, who expressed a desire to leave the team, will be in the squad. However, the latter's contract is valid until 2014, and V. Valdes stated that he would not mind staying in Barca until the end of his contract.
"Eric's situation is specific. It will take more time to make the final decision, but he is a very valuable player for the club. I saw how well he played the full 90 minutes. I have not talked with the club leaders about V. Valdes's future yet, but there is enough time for that. Now we need to finish the season. I see no reason why he could not stay in the team until his contract expires," the coach affirmed.
During the press conference, T. Vilanova also talked about Josep Guardiola and Lionel Messi: "Pep and I were and are friends. We have known each other since childhood, but it is normal that we communicate less now. Distance does its thing, he wanted to be with his family. Lionel Messi? Many talk about how Barcelona depends on one player. Well, I would like that 'dependency' to last as long as possible. On the other hand, the team has shown excellently that they can play without him. Lionel rested three games, and his teammates scored 9 goals during that time. Of course, I admit that we feel his absence on the field, but I think every team feels that when their leader is absent."
"The loss to Bayern was painful for the team, but it did not change my opinion about the team. I will not begin to value my players less just because we lost to a strong opponent. I think it's not the players that need to change first, as the current composition still has things to learn. For example, how to defend corners better," noted T. Vilanova.
