Barca Class - 08/08/2002

Great performance

We all knew the Barcelona game was going to be special, that’s why over 50,000 fans bought tickets. What did surprise me was the quality of Barca’s football. It wasn’t as if one or two players had exceptional games, but the whole as unit was so massively impressive. All of the players wanted the ball, all were so comfortable on the ball, and the patience of the team was so disciplined.

Having said the Barcelona team were a great unit, one player in particular did stand out. I though Patrick Kluivert was outstanding! He took his goal so well, but his overall play, his movement, his touch…just great. Another player to look out for is Saviola, he’s young now, but when I was in Argentina there were people talking about this kid who would be something special. Like Kluivert, he took his goal fantastically.

We saw in the media that there were a few concerns about our play. This isn’t a problem. Before our game Barca had played a number of big friendlies against some top class opposition, whilst we had only played a couple of games. As for my performance, well it was OK, I can do better but things just didn’t quite come off for me. Come the Champions League qualifier you’ll be able to judge us. I’ve had pre-season’s where we’ve looked fantastic – only to go on and start poorly. It’s no problem!

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