Cesc Fabregas has said Barcelona will look to starve Atletico Madrid of the ball in their Champions League quarter-final second-leg tonight.
The former Arsenal captain was speaking at a pre-match Press conference and has also predicted Barca will go through.
Fabregas went on to explain a little of Barca’s philosophy in matches against teams such as Atletico.
“With teams that want to go on the counter-attack we like to have the ball more than usual and we’re more cautious about losing the ball,” Mundo Deportivo quotes Fabregas as revealing.
“We have to be more ready than ever to compete well for Barca if we want to make things happen. I’m sure we’ll see a great Barca.
“We are more than capable of turning around the game. It’s true they have a small advantage but they scored as we can do here.
“In any case, we can’t be scared and think that it will be a failure if we lose. Lately we’ve had difficult times in the team and we want to be happy.
“I’d prefer Diego Costa not to play but Atletico have great players who can do great things. They’re not done if he doesn’t play.
“We have to be strong and show that we are Barcelona and we will control the game whoever they have in attack.”
It was put to Fabregas that elimination from the Champions League will benefit Barca’s La Liga challenge, but he said thinking that way isn’t an option.
“We don’t want to rest. A Barca player has to think that season will be 60 games long,” Fabregas insisted.
“We don’t want to think about that. As a club we have an obligation to play until the end and we’ll see who is in the semi-final.
“There are many objectives, like the League and the Cup, but we have to step up for the Champions League.”
