SPANISH SOCCER:BARCELONA STRIKER Zlatan Ibrahimovic needs to control his temper and accept the decisions made by match officials or he risks letting down the team, according to coach Pep Guardiola.
The Swede, who moved to Barca from Inter Milan in the close season, protested a host of decisions in Barca’s 1-1 La Liga draw at home to Villarreal on Saturday and was booked in the 88th minute for a reckless lunge at Diego Godin.
“He’s a temperamental player and we need to be a bit careful because we might end up one day with 10 players,” Guardiola said.
“Ibrahimovic needs to be strong and he is capable of doing it as he’s a great player,” he added. “He can’t control the referees’ decisions.”
As it was, Barcelona retained their lead at the top of the table as Real Madrid also slipped up, only managing to draw 0-0 away to Osasuna last night. Barcelona, on 40 points, lead by two from Madrid with both teams having identical goal differences of plus 27.
Guardiola had given World Player of the Year Lionel Messi a few extra days holiday and the Argentina forward was watching from the stands at a rain-soaked Nou Camp.
After presenting the six trophies won in 2009 to their fans before kick-off, Barcelona took the lead in the seventh minute and appeared on track for an eighth home win of the campaign.
Thierry Henry lashed a superb first-time shot against the bar and Pedro controlled the rebound on his chest before arrowing a drive into the far corner.
The visitors worked well to deny space to Barca’s creative midfielders and David Fuster had a chance to level just before the half hour but his downward header bounced just over the bar.
Fuster made amends six minutes after the break when he met Cani’s cross at the far post and beat goalkeeper Victor Valdes with a low half-volley.
Barcelona should not worry about Madrid and must concentrate on analysing how they can improve, goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto said yesterday.
“We shouldn’t be concerned about what Madrid are doing, we should only worry about what we do,” Pinto, second-choice keeper behind Victor Valdes, said.
“(We have to) look at ourselves and analyse ourselves and improve,” he added.“Every time we don’t get the three points you think about how it could have happened.”
Meanwhile, Real Mallorca moved into fourth place in the table last night thanks to a 2-0 home victory over Athletic Bilbao.
After a forgettable first half at the Ono Estadi, Aritz Alvarez tried his luck from distance in the 49th minute and his shot looped up off the back of Athletic defender Fernando Amorebieta and the net.
Aritz Aduriz doubled the home side’s lead on 65 minutes to seal the issue.
