Barcelona's Guardiola after Racing Santander victory: Penalty was not decisive

Posted Monday, March 12, 2012 by Goal.com

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has played down the importance of Lionel Messi's goal from the penalty spot in Sunday's 2-0 victory against Racing Santander.

The Argentina international made no mistake from 12 yards in the 56th minute after Cesc Fabregas had been brought down inside the area by Domingo Cisma, doubling Barca's lead.

Racing's players claimed it should not have been a penalty, but Guardiola stressed that the decision was not relevant for the outcome of the match.

"I do not think the penalty was decisive," Guardiola told reporters. "We controlled the entire match."

The coach then rued Racing's defensive approach to the match and stressed that Barca had to go out all on attack from the first whistle.

"When you enter a match 13 points behind the [league] leaders [Real Madrid], you cannot wait and see what the opposing team will do," Guardiola noted.

"We did things well in a match in which it was very hard for us to circulate the ball. When they play with nine or 10 players behind the ball, it is never easy to enter the [penalty] area."

Despite turning in a good display, Pedro was unable to find the net, taking his number of consecutive matches without a goal to seven.

"Pedro is a very important player," Guardiola noted. "He has been so, he is so and will continue being so for a long time.

"He has to work like he did today. Goals come in streaks."