“I apologize to the city” – Valladolid manager reacts to Barcelona thrashing
Barcelona’s extraordinary 7-0 La Liga win over newly-promoted Valladolid on Saturday was an incredible occasion for Barça fans, but it was definitely not a sweet experience for the opponents and their supporters.
Valladolid coach Paulo Pezzolano spoke to the press after the match to try and offer any explanation for the defeat, but all he could do was apologize on behalf of himself and his players.
“I want to apologize to the supporters and the city, they don’t deserve it. We didn’t compete today. It was pitiful. There’s no other word, there are no excuses. We put the best we have on the pitch and we couldn’t compete.”
Pezzolano then explained that Valladolid tried to employ a similar strategy to the one that worked quite well on their visit to the Bernabéu last week — the visitors trailed Real Madrid on the road by just one goal until the 88th minute — but ran into a Barça side that knew how to break them down.
“We had a similar plan for today, but Barça is a different rival. They have players who do very well in between the lines. It’s a team that knows how to play against a low block and we had tactical errors. We suffered with balls in behind the backline. Our idea was to chase them a little higher, but we were too late with our press.”
Source: Mundo Deportivo
It’s actually quite refreshing to see an opposition manager praise Barça’s ability to play against a low block, because that was a huge issue that plagued them in many games last season. But at least in the early days of the Hansi Flick Era the Blaugrana have much more variety and verticality to their game, which makes them more dangerous and unpredictable against teams who play with a parked bus.
Barça won’t score seven every time, but if they apply the same principles of suffocating high pressing and high-level play in possession they will certainly be a nightmare to play against all season long.