Alves: Atleti not just Costa

Dani Alves has warned Barcelona of the danger of assuming Diego Costa is Atletico Madrid’s only weapon.

The sides meet on Tuesday in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and Alves has said at a Press conference that Barca can only think of the next game against Atletico, not the League meeting to come.

“We can look towards the other matches with Atletico at another time. Now we must take a step forward,” the Brazilian said.

“It will be a difficult game but it goes beyond Diego Costa. Atletico isn’t just Diego Costa, even if he’s the one who gets the goals.

“At some point we have to break this balance with Atletico [after their past two meetings were drawn].

“Hopefully we take a giant leap into the next round.”

Alves also used his platform to have his say on the circus that surrounds Barca’s every result.

“15 days ago we lost a game and it was chaos, like a riot. We have come through that.

“When Barca win it’s due to referees and when we lost it’s the end of a cycle.

“People have long campaigned for this team to end a cycle but we just open a new one.

“I’m pleased people are blaming our defence for our defeats. For three years they only blamed me.”

Alves added – tongue-in-cheek – that he believes Luis Figo, who conducted the draw, pitted Barca against Atleti on purpose.

“You see what Figo is like with his hands. It was the hot ball for Barca! We always get the ugliest draw,” he said.

Tags Dani Alves Diego Costa
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