Pinto: “We are strong”

It was José Manuel Pinto’s day. The player made his debut in La Liga, at the Camp Nou, and he managed to keep a clean sheet in FC Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Deportivo.

“I’m very pleased because we are playing well again,” explained the keeper after Barça secured a good result against the Galician team. Pinto went on to highlight the importance of the match: “the victory is important in the sense that it lifts the team and the fans in general. Between all of us we need to pick ourselves up.” He didn’t want to call the competition’s importance into doubt and he reminded the press that “it’s always important to win, we can close in on the Liga title if we keep on winning,” but he wasn’t able to hide the fact that the team is “very eager for Tuesday to arrive.”

The reserve keeper also said that “it would be special to play against Celta, because I spent many years there and I have great memories from my time there.”

Thiago, optimistic on the Champions League

“We’re playing for our lives in the Champions League on Tuesday, the most important title there is. We’ll try to get a good result,” said the young midfielder ahead of FC Barcelona’s European showdown with Milan. Thiago, however, explained that today’s “victory helps us boost our morale. We’re optimistic ahead of the match against Milan.”

On the match against Deportivo, the Spain international said, “I’m pleased, we played a great first half. In the second we maintained our rhythm and in general we played a serious match.” On the numerous missed chances that his team had, Thiago said, “it’s important to create chances, it’s a sign that you’re playing good football.”

Here are the statements made by other FC Barcelona players after the match:

Alexis:

“I’m pleased that I got to play”

“We had to win, it was important. We also have to win on Tuesday against Milan”

“The Clásicos affected us but we’re a strong group and we’ve moved on”

“Messi is amazing”

Alves:

“We competed poorly, a quality rival punishes you when you don’t put your chances away. We need to improve”

“It’s not about eating away at Madrid’s morale, it’s just that they competed better than we did”

“If we want to stay in the Champions League we have to compete well”