The Clásico is coming up for FC Barcelona but Luis Enrique is looking no further than the second leg against a Manchester City FC side confident they can compete with 11 men.
Possible lineups
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Xavi, Rakitić, Iniesta; Suárez, Messi, Neymar.
• Out: Vermaelen (hamstring), Busquets (ankle)
Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Kolarov; Fernando, Fernandinho; Milner, Touré, Silva; Agüero.
• Out: Clichy (suspended)
Luis Enrique, Barcelona coach
There’s only one match on our minds and that’s the one against City. Not the Clásico. It would be dangerous to play a cagey match. Our objective is to win and play better than our opponents. A place in the next round is at stake. You play the whole season for these games and that’s why the press room is full today.
I don’t think last season’s game is anything to go by because both sides have changed players. You can’t qualify just by playing one of the two games very well. We need to play well [in the second leg] too and see if we can beat City again.
I don’t think City look physically tired at all. I am sure they will fight to qualify for the next round – I’m positive of that. We don’t take anything for granted and this match is very important.
Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City manager
We need to play like we did in the second half of the first leg. For part of the first half Barça controlled the game but in the second half we had chances. We need to play 11 v 11 and then we have a team that can play like we did in the second half.
It’s important to fight Barcelona for the ball but they dominate possession against all opponents. We have to keep the ball once we gain control of it. We want to give Barcelona problems regaining the ball once we have it.
It is important for us to prove that we are one of the best teams in Europe by beating Barcelona and that must be our test. We must strive to win.
We are not facing an easy team but if it’s 11 v 11 the game could be different [to the first leg]. When you against Barcelona it’s almost impossible to do well when it’s 11 v 10 [as it has been for the teams’ last three meetings] – I am not pointing at the referee because it was a fair decision.
Weekend results
SD Eibar 0-2 Barcelona (Messi 31pen 55)
Burnley FC 1-0 Manchester City (Boyd 61)
source:uefa.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 