Guardiola upbeat about Copa draw

Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola was far from distraught despite his all-conquering side being held to a 0-0 draw by Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey.

Barcelona’s 10-match winning streak in all competitions was foiled by Bilbao’s defensive efforts at the Nou Camp in their round-of-16 encounter on Tuesday.

Guardiola said it was tough for his side to penetrate the staunch Bilbao defence and he believes the visitors got the result they came for.

“The match ended in a draw because we played against a great team. They played a game knowing there is a second leg whilst we were looking for a positive result,” Guardiola told Spanish sports daily Marca.

“For the return leg, we must win or (score) draw by playing a beautiful game. We will have to take the game to our opponents.”

Barcelona’s passing game failed to thwart the Bilbao defence, with Guardiola putting their scoreless draw down to the lack of a final touch from his side.

“We dominated, but we lacked a little depth and finesse at the end,” he said.

Guardiola is anticipating a tricky second leg in Bilbao’s Basque territory, which his side must win or at least take a scoreless draw, to progress to the last eight of the Spanish King’s Cup.

“The return leg will be a difficult task because it will be the first match of the New Year,” Guardiola said.

“We will go to San Mames and see if we meet the expectations and progress to the quarter-finals.”

“During the match, we played against a lot of formations, and we have been able to defeat them by attacking. But we must be prepared to overcome them.”

“I am disappointed because the result is what it is. If we had been able to score, things would have been different. We tried attacking more in the second-half but with a lot of people defending, it was never easy for us.”