Gerard Pique has warned Barcelona of their 2007 humiliation against Getafe if they do not take their Copa del Rey last-16 second leg seriously.
Barca appeared to be dead certs for the 2007 Copa del Rey final, having beaten El Geta 5-2 in the first leg of their semi, only to be stunned 4-0 at Coliseum Alfonso Perez, and the defender believes history can repeat itself if his side are not careful.
“Our intention was just to qualify for the next round, and now we’ll return to Cornella for the next game,” he said after the game.
“Derbies are always intense. [Espanyol] have got their approach to playing and play to the limit.
“There are referees who permit [their style of play] and some who don’t, like [Wednesday’s].
“The match obviously depended very much on the referee’s decisions, and I thought he was very good.
“Obviously they’re still alive, but although the tie isn’t over by any means, we’ve obviously got a good result and feel we’ve got a good chance of going through.
“In the cup, anything can happen. When you look at the history of the club, we can remember not so many years ago when we took a big lead from the first leg to Getafe and got knocked out.
“Therefore, what we’re hoping to do is stay alive and win the cup.
“I think [Espanyol’s] approach was physically hard and tried to prevent us from playing our usual, fluid football.
“I think once we started to score, the second goal was very important and we began taking our chances.
“The second leg will be emotional and intense, and we expect an atmosphere which is good for football.
“You could see [Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal] had a lot of quality and will add a lot to this team.”
