Guardiola: Tie far from over

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has emphasised that his side’s Copa del Rey quarter-final tie against Real Madrid is far from over.

Barca won the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu 2-1 after strikes from Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener.

It hands the Catalan outfit a narrow advantage going in to the second leg with their bitter rivals next Wednesday, but Guardiola has played down the result and has – for now – swung his side’s focus back to La Liga.

“We knew we had to score, but the tie isn’t over – Madrid always keep on fighting. (We) now focus on league game in four days (against Malaga on Sunday),” he said.

Tuesday’s match was not without its controversy, mostly surrounding Real Madrid’s Pepe.

The Brazilian-born Portuguese international could have been sent off after a series of strong challenges and off-the-ball incidents.

Pepe appeared to stamp on the hand of Lionel Messi in the second half, but the referee did not see the incident, leaving Barca’s players incensed.

Guardiola, however, refused to comment on the situation.

“Pepe? Players talked about it, but I didn’t see what happened. It seems it was clear on television,” he said.