Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde has admitted he ‘never enjoys’ the opening round of the Copa del Rey and believes the tie is ‘still open’.
The Blaugrana needed a last-minute winner from Clement Lenglet to triumph 1-0 at Segunda B side Cultural y Leonesa while a second leg at the Camp Nou is still to be played.
“I never enjoy these games because the opponents are always incredibly motivated,” Valverde told reporters, as cited by Marca.
“They played at 200%, as we expected them to, and it is a different challenge to when you are playing in La Liga, a different task.
“It is natural for bigger clubs to be nervous and just because we won tonight does not mean we are through, this tie is still in the balance.
“Cultural played very strongly, they were aggressive and direct as we expected them to be, they play with a different philosophy than us and that makes things tricky.
“Were their fouls a problem? I understand why they do it, but there were about 15 fouls in the opening 10 minutes, so it is up to us to combat that.”
