Champions League: Barcelona will need goals to progress, says Guardiola

Gomez, Robben sink troubled Marseille in other quarter-final

MILAN: Pep Guardiola said his Barcelona team will need to score at least two goals at the Camp Nou next week if they are to oust AC Milan and reach the Champions League semi-finals.

The Italian and Spanish champions played out a 0-0 draw at the San Siro, leaving next week’s quarter-final second leg finely poised. And having failed to snatch an away goal to take back to Catalunya, the Spaniards’ boss is worried that one goal at home will not be enough.

“I think we have to score more than one to go through and we’ll try to do that,” said Guardiola. “Scoring away gives you a lot, but they were lucky because they didn’t even get one free-kick around the box or a corner. They’re a very strong team and I imagine one goal won’t be enough.

Like Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger in the previous round, Guardiola was particularly critical of the San Siro pitch, which gets played on twice as much as most grounds as it’s shared by Milan and city rivals Inter.

“Like us, Uefa want a spectacle but if you don’t have the conditions it’s difficult and you have to overcome the pitch’s condition. It’s not Milan or Inter who are the problems because I’m sure they want to play on a good pitch, it’s the stadium’s problem.”

Gomez, Robben sink troubled Marseille

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich took control of their quarter-final against Marseille with a 2-0 win at Stade Velodrome.

With Steve Mandanda suspended, coach Didier Deschamps chose to field Elinton Andrade but the move backfired in the 44th minute when the Brazilian allowed Mario Gomez’s shot to slip beneath him. The 32-year-old was making his first appearance since January 2011 and he was beaten again by Arjen Robben in the 69th minute as Bayern took a commanding grip on the tie ahead of Tuesday’s return leg.

“We realised our objective by winning without conceding any goals,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes. “Marseille play emotional football, so it was very important for us to get this result tonight.”

Deschamps was left to rue the timing of Bayern’s opener.

“Until the (first) goal, we’d done things well,” he said. “Then we let in the goal, and it hurt. It was just before half-time. Given what we’d done up to that point, it was hard to go in 1-0 down. There’s still a chance. We’re not in the best situation.”

Barca complain to UEFA

Barcelona said they had complained to UEFA over the state of the pitch at the San Siro.

“FC Barcelona has lodged a complaint with UEFA over the state of the pitch at the San Siro stadium during the Champions League match,” said the Catalan giants on their web site. After Wednesday’s match, Guardiola complained about the pitch, saying that ‘we adapt to everything, we come and we play. But it’s a problem for the quality of the occasion. It’s difficult when the pitch is in this state’.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2012.