Sun, September 23, 2012
MADRID, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova on Sunday expressed his satisfaction as his side continued their 100 percent start to the season with a hard-fought 2-0 win at home to Granada.
Barca were below their best and struggled to break down a well-organized rival until Xavi Hernandez, who had come into the game as a second half substitute, finally broke the deadlock in spectacular style with a thundering shot in the 87th minute. An own goal in injury time sealed the points.
The problems Barca had in scoring caused moments of tension in the side, such as Leo Messi's visible complaints to David Villa after a missed chance, but the coach preferred to pass over the incident.
"What happened between Leo and Davis is part of football, I have seen the images and I don't think you can hardly call it an argument. Leo wanted the ball and David said that he's passed to him. The only thing it shows me is that they both wanted to win and I don't think that is a bad thing," said Vilanova, who put the lack of freshness down to the fact his side had played in the Champions League on Wednesday.
"We had played a difficult game and have had hardly three days rest. This is the start of the season, we have had some good moments and others that were not so good, but we can't say we played badly, We had 20 shots on goal, 13 of which were on target and we had clear cut chances," he said.
Barca's win lifted them 11 points ahead of Real Madrid, who play away to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday night, but Vilanova insisted he didn't look at their rival's results.
"I have already said that what doesn't depend on us doesn't interest me. I am going to go and have 'paella' for lunch, then I will go to the cinema and relax and I am not going to think about what Real Madrid do, even though I am certain that someone will send me a message with the score," he said.
Meanwhile at the end of the game Messi played down his discussion with Villa: "Don't look for problems where there aren't any. It was because of the tension of not scoring a goal. I don't have any problems with him, just the opposite," he assured.
