Espanyol striker Felipe Caicedo admits he cannot wait to pit his wits against Barcelona in the Catalan derby this Saturday.
Los Pericos still entertain hopes of a European spot this season and Ecuador international Caicedo is hoping their good run of late, which has included victories over Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao, continues against their near neighbours.
“We hope to play a good game on our own ground, which we have been doing lately, one that will allow us to go for our opponents and obtain a good result,” Caicedo told a Press conference.
“We’ve already done well against teams like Valencia and Atletico Madrid and we must continue in that way because Barca have some great players.
“Their strength is in attack, where they possess fantastic footballers, and we are aware of just what they can do.
“The game against them in the first round of matches will serve as a reference point for us because for 44 minutes we played almost a perfect game, so we’ll try to mirror that and do our best.
“We have to have the same intentions and desires we did in that game, although it eventually ended in a 5-1 defeat.
“We are still fighting for seventh place and first of all we’ll need to see how we can counteract Barca’s attacking potential, but we have clear ideas and just need to carry on playing our own game.”
Caicedo has managed to notch three goals in April but feels there is still room for improvement.
“I’ve been a little more prominent but I always want more and I hope to continue in this vein of form.
“I was confident the goals would come as I had the support of the coaching staff, my teammates and the supporters.
“All players go through good and bad spells and when you don’t score you feel helpless but I’m more relaxed now,” he conceded.
