Coach pleased with narrow defeat
Far from disgracing themselves against the Catalan team, Datuk Rajagopal’s Malaysian side put in a big performance against one of the worlds top club sides.
The soon to be departed Rajagopal was quick to praise the discipline his team showed against the Spaniards.
Speak to the The Star Malaysia he said: “My boys played to instructions and discipline against Barcelona, who are arguably the strongest club in the world.
“Despite a slow start in the first half, we did well to create a few scoring chances and could have taken the lead in the 15th minute.
“Everyone thought that we would lose by a big margin but we proved them wrong. I am happy with my players’ performance as we did well to score against them.”
Barcelona thrashed Thailand ( Ranked 25 places above Malaysia ) 7-1 on August 7th,
This was a positive result, that has come far far too late for Rajogopal, whose last games in charge of his country will be the AFC Cup qualifiers against Bahrain and Qatar.
In contrast to the positive result there have been a host of organisational problems with Barcelona’s visit, including the last minute switching of the stadium due to poor pitch conditions at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.