Barcelona Coach Guardiola Congratulates Inter After Semi-Final Exit Pep believes the dismissal of Motta worked against his team.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola congratulated Inter but noted that the dismissal of Thiago Motta actually worked against his team as the Blaugrana exited the UEFA Champions League at the semi-final stage.

The champions needed to win by two to progress to May's final at the home of fierce rivals Real Madrid but despite a late goal from Gerard Pique it wasn't to be as the Catalans relinquished their, losing 3-2 on aggregate to the ten man Nerazzurri.

"I am grateful for the pride of belonging to this club and to have this support. I feel bad for not getting to [the final in] Madrid. We've tried and I'm proud of it. We have to apologize. We can only congratulate Inter," Guardiola told a press conference after the game.

"We tried to open the field and disrupt the one-on-one and build from crosses and rebounds, but we gave away many free kicks. We lacked continuity in the game and, through mistakes or whatever we failed to disrupt their one-on-one approach. When a team defends with nine it's not easy to get through. We tried inside and outside, but attack is always the hardest and the goal came too late.

Guardiola admitted that his players are disappointed but must try to refocus on the league after the disappointment.

"They are not very good. We have had a good Champions League and it's a success to reach the semi-finals. We'll try again next year. We have to recover in three days to go for the league. We have to get up. "

"The dismissal has influenced the game, because they sat back. [Diego] Milito and [Samuel] Eto'o have moved to the wings. They set up a defensive line of almost six. After considerable delay in getting frees we have had great game and a few times, but we've played fifteen games now playing every three or four days. "

The Catalan coach refused to criticize the tactics of opposite number Jose Mourinho, stating that the winner is always right in their approach.

"Every team, every coach plays the way they want. I cannot judge the opponent. The winner is the one that is right. We went to Milan to play well and we could not for many reasons. We never gave up hope. Sometimes attacking is much more difficult than defending," he added.

"I'm not disappointed with my players and don't think we're victims of our own success. We have reached the semi-finals in the Champions League and we have 87 points in the league, where we only lost one game.

We know winning and losing, because this club has lost much more than they won. And we have shown how to behave in victory and defeat."

Finally, when asked who he would be supporting in May's final at the Bernabeu Guardiola had this to say:

"I will be on vacation at this time.