Barcelona's Pep Guardiola applauds young starlets for thrashing of BATE Borisov

Posted Wednesday, December 07, 2011 by Supersport.com

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was delighted with the display of his side in Tuesday's 4-0 win over BATE Borisov in the Champions League, crediting the youthful future of the Catalans for a magical display, while also shifting the focus to Real Madrid ahead of Saturday's crucial league clash.

Left-back Maxwell and goalkeeper Jose Pinto were the only players that weren't brought up in the renowned La Masia academy to start, as Thiago, his brother Rafinha, Martin Montoya, Marc Bartra, Andreu Fontas, Jonathan dos Santos, Sergi Roberto, Pedro and Isaac Cuenca all were in the first XI.

The 2010-11 Champions League winners put on a display of precision, trickery and class, emulating the squad when Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and others are present.

"I told them that they went out and had fun, that they did a lot of things and weren't scared," Guardiola told Europapress.es.

"It's important for us to see see that they are capable of playing and to see that they are prepared for when we need them.

"It's not easy to put six or eight kids into the lineup from the second team and play this well."

Pedro grabbed two goals, while Roberto and Montoya both scored, with Guardiola resting his big guns due to the upcoming league fixture and the fact that Barca had already won Group H to secure a spot in the last 16, entering the day with 13 points, five points ahead of second-place Milan.

However, the coach did not waste much time to stress the importance of the battle versus Jose Mourinho's men, who sit three points ahead in the Liga race, despite having played one less contest.

"If they beat us, they would have more of an advantage, and to overcome [potentially] nine points against Real Madrid would be a lot to ask for," Guardiola told Marca.com.
"Madrid are always strong. Tomorrow we will begin to think about them and prepare.

"They are always good, and this year too."