Unai Emery is more than familiar with the traits of Wednesday’s Champions League opponents Barcelona, but believes he can still beat them.
The Spaniard takes his Spartak Moscow side to the Camp Nou this midweek to begin the group stage of UEFA’s premier competition.
It is a ground and an opponent he knows well from the previous four seasons spent in charge of Valencia, but even in acknowledging the strengths of the Catalans, Emery has suggested he intends to upset the odds.
“[Lionel] Messi is a player who can destabilise you with his excellence,” began the Coach at today’s Press conference when asked of the La Liga side’s obvious force.
“We have to stop him as a collective. It depends not just on one player. We should be united and help each other. We cannot focus just on Messi because of all the other great players that Barca have. We come here with a single mindset to win.
“And the best way to win is to play well, this is through doing what you want to do – defend well, and attack in numbers. We want to break with the statistics and go against the betting odds on a Spartak win.”
Emery suggested that winning the game would not necessarily mean having possession of the ball.
“Barcelona are always in control of the ball and with that, they control the game. But they do not always win. We need to work throughout, we can wrest control of the game.
“Take away the ball, no. We should be taking it effectively and looking towards their goal. Defensively we must be similar to the other teams to have won at the Camp Nou.
“It is not easy to beat Barca, but we are not conforming to a allowing them a settled approach. I have another opportunity here, which I have never done. We look forward to the Champions League and we have to play to our maximum.”
The Coach will be reunited with former Valencia men David Villa and Jordi Alba.
“Being able to have worked with Villa and Alba was a good thing for me as a Coach. I see that Villa is fantastic again, he can be the same as before. I’m very happy.
“Although we may suffer as a result, I would be glad to see him play this week. Jordi Alba has adapted very quickly. His progression has been very quick.”
Lastly, Emery was asked of his assimilation into Russian football, following his summer switch.
“I am very happy at Spartak because everything works very well. Russian football wants to grow and I want to contribute.
“The idea is to adapt to the challenges of the Russian League and try to instil what we did in Spain. Now I look at La Liga from afar.”
