Vilanova: Nothing to blame Barcelona players for

08-Nov-2012 1:40:00 PM

The Blaugrana coach feels that his side deserved victory at Parkhead on Wednesday night, and refused to point his finger at any of his players after their continental defeat

Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova has insisted that his players are not to blame for Wednesday's 2-1 Champions League loss away to Celtic.

Victor Wanyama gifted the Scottish champions the lead after 21 minutes of play, before Anthony Watt made it two in the closing stages of the game, and Lionel Messi's goal well into stoppage time proved to be too little, too late.

Nevertheless, Vilanova feels that the Blaugrana did everything they could have done, and that they deserved to win the encounter at Parkhead.

"There is nothing to blame the players for, on the contrary," Vilanova said at a press conference. "We must congratulate their effort to read the game properly from the beginning.

"I think we deserved the victory. We tried everything until the end. We made a mistake at a set piece and they seized their opportunity. We have only conceded two corners, and they scored from one of them.

"We have our weapons and we play this way at home or away. I think if there are many games like this, we will win the majority, but that was not the case this time.

"If we had won we would be sure to top the group, but there are two games left, and we depend on ourselves."

Barcelona remain top in Group G with nine points from four games, with the Scottish side now two points behind in second place.