Luis Enrique has warned his Barcelona players to take Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Villarreal seriously.
The Catalans are considered red-hot favourites to reach the final, having defeated the Yellow Submarine 3-1 in the first leg three weeks ago, but the Coach stressed how his side could not afford to make any ‘speculations’ on their opponents.
“We’re not going to walk past Villarreal, our objective is to win the game, not speculate on the outcome. If we win, I’m sure no-one will be surprised,” he said at a Press conference.
“The Villarreal I know from La Liga doesn’t look like the one who played against us [in the first leg].
“They’re a team who play some of the best football in the division and have great ball skills. We’ll find perhaps a more attacking [Villarreal] than in our previous three meetings.
“A draw at the [Santiago] Bernabeu reinforces the results we’ve had against them. They’re very dangerous, but so are we.
“We’re on an excellent run of form and results, and it should be a great encounter.
“Scoring a goal would be important for us. We won’t speculate anything, we need the ball to defend and organise ourselves.
“We want to keep the ball in our opponents’ half and press when we don’t have it.
“The objective is to win every game and stay in with a chance of winning on all fronts before the end of the season. The closer we are to first place [in La Liga], the better.
“[An all-Catalan final?] It’s a question for when we’re both in the final.”
