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Barcelona do Vilanova proud at Spartak

"It went by the script," shrugged Unai Emery after his FC Spartak Moskva side lost 3-0 at home against FC Barcelona, with Tito Vilanova proud of the visitors' adaptability in Moscow.

Barcelona do Vilanova proud at Spartak
Barcelona do Vilanova proud at Spartak ©UEFA.com

Unai Emery, Spartak coach
This result has sent us out of the tournament and almost certainly out of third place [and a UEFA Europa League spot]. In my overall analysis of this group stage, I would say that things got away from us with the 3-2 home defeat against Celtic FC when we seemed to have everything going for us. The three points from that game are what we are missing now.

Barcelona came here looking for something but had we put away some of our chances in the first half, perhaps the outcome might have been different. In the end, it went by the script. We had a lot of hopes invested in this tournament – qualifying for the next phase or even just getting into the Europa League. The Champions League always distracts you from domestic matters slightly so now we have to concentrate on the Russian league to make sure we qualify for Europe again next season. There appears to be continuity at Barcelona regarding the work that Josep Guardiola put in, and they have added new faces to the squad. We saw the Barça that we expected to see here tonight.

Tito Vilanova, Barcelona coach
We were well aware of the importance of this game having lost to Celtic last time out. We did not want to be looking to qualify in our last home game against Benfica. My players demonstrated just how great they are tonight. They have won a lot of trophies down the years and proved that they can adapt to any circumstance, be it the cold weather or a tricky playing surface. They put in a very diligent performance.

Each and every day, Lionel Messi doesn't fail to surprise with his ambition and his eagerness to win and help out his team-mates. We always talk about the goals he scores but we also have to say that at a tactical level he's excellent too.