Press conference: Josep Guardiola

The game was decided in the last minutes.
We kept insisting and in the end we got the reward.

You enjoy things more when you win at the end?
When you win with four or five goals, victories aren't valued that much, like has happened a few times this season.

You lost a lot of balls on Madrid's half.
We were a little too enthusiastic and we wanted to run more instead of letting the ball run. We wanted to defeat time and that's not possible. It was a game with a lot of risks in the first half but in the second half we corrected the mistakes and made some changes.

Madrid didn't played too defensive?
I'm not the one who should judge the way of playing of other teams. I congratulate Madrid with their game.

You didn't seem happy with the way Messi was treated?
I'm convinced that it wasn't a deliberate thing, that's just how the game develops. But we're talking about dangerous tackles, that could have made a lot of damage. I was afraid that the game would enter into a negativ dynamic. I sure didn't want to offend the referee.

Why did Eto'o took the penalty, and not Messi?
Because it was Eto'o's turn now. Samuel is a great penalty taker but this time he didn't score.

Valdés was important.
Hugely, he made two decisives saves. I'm very happy for him. It's always very difficult to win a game when the opponent is defending with eleven players. And Víctor did great. He was a key player during the game. Like was Casillas, we can't forget that.

What did you think about Busquets?
Well, he's not a bad player. He has a lot of character, he knows how to play the game, he caused a penalty. I wanted to let Gudjohnsen play, because he deserved it. I'm feeling sorry for Keita, but I can't let them all play. I'm happy with the progress of Busquets.

You were looking forward to the game.
A game against Madrid is always special. I'm very happy to have won against last year's champions.

You have an advantage of twelve points on Madrid.
Look, we have nine on Villareal, but we have to keep on working with the players so they can feel relaxed. There's still a very long way to go. I know what it means to play in Pamplona or in Santander, or to receive Numancia in the Camp Nou. We have a lot of points and we did great in the last games. Everything is a result from winning points week after week. I knew that we would have good results against the big teams, but the important thing was to get a lot of points before this series.