Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola had no complaints after his side's 16-match winning run in La Liga was ended with a 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon last night. Relegation-threatened Sporting took the lead through a fine David Barral effort after 16 minutes, and looked as if they may hold on for a shock victory until David Villa's sublime chip against his former club rescued a point for the champions.
Guardiola said: "When a run like that comes to an end you value it even more, because we have won at grounds like this. We should have to play in more places like this where the team plays for their lives. It's terribly tough to have to compete with them.
"At Barça you have to go out and compete every three days and these players have shown they can do that millions of times. I know why this game was much harder for us. It's a question of movements and we were lacking depth. We're not unbeatable. I have no complaints. We go all around Spain showing people who we are and that is already enough."
When a run like that comes to an end you value it even more, because we have won at grounds like this.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola on the end of their 16-match winning-streak
Guardiola believes opposite number Manuel Preciado got his tactics spot on to nullify the league leaders at El Molinon. "I think Sporting played perfectly," he said. "Manolo approached the game well. We didn't win but we did all we could to do so. It is not easy to attack against ten defenders. I expected a game like this. We knew they'd come out strong."
He added: "I am not satisfied with a point. If you don't win it's not a good result. I'd have been satisfied if things hadn't gone as they did. Just because we're Barca doesn't mean we should always win. We can lose or draw if that's how it is."