Jordi Alba has explained how he expects Barcelona to face a tough reception from his former club Valencia this weekend.
The Catalans travel out to Mestalla for Sunday evening’s Week 3 clash with maximum points from the first two rounds.
Whilst Los Che struggled in their last game, losing at Espanyol, their former full-back now on Barca’s books has backed them to perform this weekend.
“I’m sure they’ll be well up for the game against us,” Alba told reporters today.
“I was there for three years and Barca’s visits are always a special day for the fans, the players and the coaches – they treat the game like a final.
“The season has only just started, so it’s wrong to criticise a team so early. You cannot judge Valencia on just the one game.
They will be going all out for this game, especially after what happened to them last week at Espanyol.”
The Spain international then considered Barcelona’s Champions League group stage opponents after yesterday’s draw.
“We know it’s not an easy group because last season we lost to both Milan and Celtic.
“Ajax are a very good team who like play when they have they have the ball and who are aggressive when they don’t.
“It is advantage that they’re all teams we know in depth. But we’ll stick to playing our game and try not to make the mistakes we made last season.
“We need to make sure we finish top of the group. Barca are expected to qualify. We will try to win every game and make it into the Last 16.
“Our objective this season is to win every trophy and it’s been a few years since we won the Champions League so we’re especially hungry for that, but we want to win all the competitions that we’re in.”
