Barcelona’s Jordi Roura sounded more optimistic than Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti after their clubs drew 2-2 in the UEFA Champions Leaguequarterfinal first-leg in Paris on Tuesday. Goals from Lionel Messi and Xavi were each canceled out by strikes from Zlatan Ibrahimovic andBlaise Matuidi, respectively.
“It’s a good result. We’re a bit disappointed with the result seeing how the match played out, we had the game won despitethe adversities,” Roura said after the game. “We’re going to approach the return leg like we always do, we have to try to score to make the match more difficult for them – they feelthe weight of the stadium and of our fans. We will go out to win the match.”
The Barca assistant coach refused to dwell on the calls that went against his team, includingIbrahimovic’s goal, which was clearly offside. “There were some questionable calls, I’m sure these decisions did not benefit us,” he said. “We must dispense with this,because things are as they are.”
Midfielder Xavi agreed the result was positive even though Barcaconceded the equalizer in stoppage time. He singled out the loss of defender Javier Mascherano (MCL) and the possible loss of Messi (hamstring pull) for next Wednesday’s returnleg in Barcelona as the biggest negatives from the game. “They are two very important players for us,” he said. “We’re having terrible luck on defense, we’re missing[Carles] Puyol and Adriano, and now this.”