Petr Cech spoke to the media after Arsenal's defeat to Barcelona at Emirates Stadium. Below is a transcript of what he said:
on conceding to Messi…
We are disappointed because we lost the game, not because one of the best players ever managed to score against me. I’m not disappointed by that. I’m disappointed because we lost by two goals and our task is very difficult to qualify. I thought we did really well until the first goal. We had some opportunities and we should have scored. I think the that would have made them a bit more defensive. Another blow is the second goal where they got a penalty to make it 2-0. It is a difficult deficit to overcome but 2-0 is not 5-0 and we have 90 minutes with a chance.
on the plan…
I think the only thing we didn’t fulfil was that we didn’t score. If you play one of the favourites to win the Champions League and you have a chance, you need to find a goal. We had a couple of chances where we could have scored and we did not. I think that would have made a big difference.
on preparing to face Barcelona’s attack…
You prepare like you do for any game. You need to make sure you are ready and know what to expect. When you go to the game you play with your anticipation and you are analysing what could happen. If you have formations prior to the game it helps nowadays in the modern game as you can get as many formations as you want. You go to the game ready but the quality in players can make the difference.
on frustration…
It is frustrating. It is disappointing because we did so well in the game and created chances. I thought the difference between the two teams, [was] they managed to get a goal and that made the big difference in the game, and the second was the penalty. It makes our task even harder for the away game but the only thing we didn’t do well was take our chances. In games like this you need to be more clinical and you need to find the back of the net.
on playing well…
They had three or four chances and we had the same. The difference was they managed to score a goal from a counter attack. They found a goal and I think it changed a lot of the game as we needed to be more open and find a second goal. Unfortunately we didn’t and we conceded.
on Messi’s first…
I knew that he could shot so that is why I managed to put my body over there but he used the space. I hoped the guys that were coming back could block it on the line but they weren’t able to.
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