FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola this Friday refused to discuss the controversy resulting from last Wednesday' s Champions League semi-final between his side and Real Madrid.
Barcelona' s 2-0 win in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in a bad tempered game has caused a huge amount of fallout with UEFA opening charges against Real Madrid far various incidents.
Barcelona also asked UEFA to investigate declarations from Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who implied Barca had won the game and their previous European titles with the help of referees and the governing body of European football.
Madrid responded to that action by denouncing Barcelona to UEFA for the over-reaction of some of their players, feigning injury following challenges.
Guardiola was questioned about the events, including his club' s decision to ask for action to be taken against his opposite number, but beyond giving the action his general support, the Barca coach was diplomatic.
"I am employed by the club and I have to support the action of the club. I have nothing to say about Madrid' s action against my players. I defend my players. I will talk about the Champions League on Monday ahead of the return leg," said Guardiola, who then turned his attention to Saturday' s BBVA Primera Liga game in San Sebastian where his side will defend their 8 point lead at the top of the table.
"We have to win, we still need seven points to assure the title, that is a lot and tomorrow we need to win the first three in San Sebastian."
"It has been hard for us in recent games and it will be hard tomorrow, but we have to keep our mentality. We go back to Anoeta after four years against a side that is fighting to avoid relegation while we have to take a big step to the title in the middle of our champions league tie. We want to make an almost definitive step to be just 4 points off mathematically winning the title," commented Guardiola.
Barcelona have several players out for the game and Leo Messi is also a doubt with physical problems, as a result Guardiola has called 17-year-old Gerard Deulofeu into his first team squad.
"We have a lot of players out so we called up Gerard, he' s very young and working well. He has to improve, but he has things that we think can make him a key player for us for the B-team or the first team."
"We are playing for the league and recent experience shows we have a big part of the league at stake in a difficult game," concluded Guardiola.
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