Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola refused to make excuses after seeing its historic winning streak of 16 consecutive league matches come to an end with a 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

"At Barca you have to go out and compete every three days and these players have shown they can do that millions of times. But we are not unbeatable," said Guardiola.

"We are not invincible and we can lose or draw like we did against Sporting. Just because we're Barca doesn't mean we should always win, we can lose or draw if that's how it is. I am not satisfied with a point. If you don't win it's not a good result. I'd have been satisfied if things hadn't gone as they did.

"I think Sporting played perfect, their coach Manolo (Preciado) approached the game well. We didn't win but we did all we could to do so. It is not easy to attack against 10 defenders."

Barcelona's run of 16 successive league wins had beaten the previous best of 15 set by the great Real Madrid side of the 1960-61 season and now it hopes to bounce back with a positive result in Wednesday's Champions League last 16 first leg showdown against Arsenal in north London.

"I have no complaints. We go all around Spain showing people who we are and that is already enough," Guardiola said. "The draw at Sporting has brought an end to the stunning run of 16 consecutive league wins."

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 02/15/2011 page22)