Guardiola hails Barca´s mental toughness

Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola expressed his relief after a trying week ended in a 2-1 win over Getafe on Sunday.

Barca kept their five-point lead at the top of La Liga intact with the victory, which came thanks to goals from Dani Alves and Bojan, who marked his 100th league appearance with his 50th-minute strike.

The win came at the end of a difficult few days for the club, amid doping allegations and news that defender Eric Abidal had a tumour on his liver.

“The week has been very long, a lot has happened and you never know how you are going to play,” Guardiola said of the distractions.

“But I think we have done well. The reaction has been good, we created many chances, but that has not been reflected at the end of the game.”

“You never know how the players react, but they were fantastic and I’m really happy with the performance.”

Guardiola confirmed that Abidal was recovering well from the successful surgery to remove the tumour.

“He is recovering well. He’s in a good mood and his family are too. Hopefully in the next fortnight he’ll be ready to visit and join us at the Ciudad Deportivo (Sports City),” he said.

The manager had no issue with Xavi picking up a one-match ban for accumulating five yellow cards, which will rule him out of the trip Villarreal on April 3.

“It’s part of the game. He has accumulated five cards and the players know how many cards they are on. He will rest against Villarreal and have a clean slate after that,” Guardiola said.