Guardiola applauds resolute Sevilla

Pep Guardiola offered his congratulations to a determined Sevilla team after they held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw in La Liga on Saturday.

Reigning champions Barca dominated possession and enjoyed more chances than their opponents, but proved unable to break down the visitors at the Camp Nou.

Lionel Messi missed a stoppage-time penalty for Barca following a lengthy delay, as Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute earned two yellow cards for time-wasting antics.

A second Sevilla player, defender Fernando Navarro, also saw red after he brought down Dani Alves just outside the box in the seventh minute of injury time.

Despite the spiteful finale to the contest, Guardiola acknowledged the efforts of the away team, and singled out Javi Varas for special praise following an inspired performance from the visitors’ goalkeeper.

“We must congratulate the Sevilla defence and tonight’s big-game player Javi Varas,” Guardiola told AS.

“I think we played well, but we must congratulate the performance of Sevilla, and get back up and kick back on Tuesday,” he said, referring to Barca’s mid-week match at promoted side Granada.

Barca under Guardiola have become adept at overcoming teams content to sit behind the ball and defend.

But on this occasion they proved unable to find a breakthrough, drawing a blank and failing to win at home for the first time in the league this season.

“It’s never easy to play against a team that plays too defensively, with nine players at the back, as there is no room,” Guardiola said.

“Sevilla had only one attack at our goal, but we also saw that we could score a goal on the counter.”

“We had 77 percent possession but we failed to find that first goal, even if we did have many occasions to attack their defence.”

“I want to thank the team and the fans – all 80-odd thousand people who attended.”

Barca are second in La Liga, one point behind Real Madrid and one ahead of third-place Levante, who play Villarreal on Sunday.