Guardiola feels the pain of defeat
Posted Sunday, February 12, 2012 by ESPN
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola says the real pain of Saturday's 3-2 loss to Osasuna will only be felt the day after.
Second-placed Barca were trailing La Liga leaders Real Madrid by seven points prior to Saturday's defeat in Pamplona. As a result, Guardiola's side could now find themselves as much as 10 points behind in the title race should Madrid beat Levante on Sunday.
"Distancing ourselves from Madrid is painful ... the reality is that we were already at an important distance and I imagine it will increase [tomorrow]," he told the club's website.
"We don't really have many perspectives to work from, we can only play the next game as best we can to do well."
Barca were put under intense pressure on Saturday by Dejan Lekic who who scored twice to leave Osasuna two goals up at half-time. Alexis Sanchez pulled a goal back six minutes into the second half but Raul Garcia restored the two goal cushion for the home side five minutes later.
Barca substitute Cristian Tello netted a second for Barca 17 minutes from the end.
"Osasuna were better in the first half," Guardiola said.
"We played a great second half, anything could have happened."
After the game Guardiola also refused to blame the poor pitch conditions at Estadio Reyno de Navarra for his team's defeat and stressed that they would "keep on going until the end" with regards to their chances of defending their La Liga title.
"Osasuna started off and adapted to the pitch conditions better than we did," he said.
"If we were playing well in the second half on this pitch we could have done the same in the first."
Madrid play fourth-placed Levante at the Bernabeu on Sunday.
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