Barcelona's shocking away defeat immediately caused an uproar throughout Spain.
The media and fans reacted passionately to what was wrong with Guardiola's team. Many voices pointed the finger at Head Coach Guardiola, believing that his management this season had been unsuccessful and that numerous problems had emerged.
What was interesting was that both the Head Coach and players were blamed by the media and fans, while the management's poor summer training tour and ineffective transfers were never mentioned. Many media outlets even claimed that Guardiola would be sacked after the season.
As the team's Head Coach, it was only right that Guardiola take responsibility for a defeat.
At the post-match press conference, Guardiola said in an interview with the media that the upset had been unexpected.
"We've been pulled a very important distance away from Real Madrid. We can imagine that after Real Madrid's match tomorrow, the gap in points will reach eighteen. That's unacceptable."
"I'm confident that I can continue leading the team in narrowing the gap, but the difference will remain until the end of this season."
These words proved what Guardiola was thinking: overturning Real Madrid this season was basically impossible. He simply wasn't willing to say so openly to the media and fans.
Guardiola then made it clear that the team was about to head into the Champions League, where they would fight for the trophy. This was tantamount to indirectly telling everyone that La Liga was no longer part of Barcelona's plans.
After twenty-three rounds, they were eighteen points behind. A gap like that simply couldn't be made up.
Sure enough, early the next morning, almost every Spanish media outlet began criticizing Guardiola.
Mundo Deportivo was the first to publish a comment, arguing that Guardiola's decision to leave the midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta,