PANAJI: These are not the best of times for Barcelona. Xavi’s side lost El Clasico last week and then got knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the group stage itself for the second successive year, an embarrassment for the club.
Barcelona now turn their focus to LaLiga where they are three points behind league leaders Real Madrid. Even though the last two weeks have been miserable for the club, their league opponents know they’ll continue to make life difficult for them.
“It’s true that such a good team is having a bad streak at the moment, but from my experience of playing them, they’ll always bounce back and play better in the league,” Valencia captain Jose Gaya told TOI during an interaction with select journalists from across the world. “They are a great team. We have to be at our best. Having been eliminated from the Champions League, they’ll focus more on the league. They’ll be dangerous. We have to be ready.”
Valencia play Barcelona at the Mestella on Saturday.
Coached by Gennaro Gattuso, Valencia were on a five-game unbeaten run, until they lost 1-2 against Mallorca last week at home, a big setback ahead of the visit of Barcelona.
Having won just one of their last five matches in LaLiga, Valencia are three points behind sixth-placed Athletic Bilbao but just four ahead of Celta Vigo in 13th. The players know they haven’t done enough this season to push for a Champions League spot that has eluded them for the last two seasons.
(Valencia captain Jose Gaya)
“It’s true that the first few matches in the league were good but last week the results were not our best. We played two of the last three games at home against Elche and Mallorca, and we were not able to win either of them. It’s something we have to improve upon.
“We need a bit of consistency. The ideas we have are good, but we have to be more consistent and play at the same pace throughout the 90 minutes. We have to get back to winning ways as soon as possible,” said Gaya, who was on Barcelona’s radar for a long time, but has now signed a contract that keeps him at Valencia till 2027.
Valencia have lost each of their last three LaLiga matches against Barcelona. Getting anything out of this game should be a challenge, never mind the form or morale of their opponents.
“We know Barcelona is a fantastic team,” said the Valencia captain. “They are going to make things very difficult for us. We are not even thinking about their setback in the Champions League. We have a clear game-plan and are working on that. There is no doubt Barcelona will turn all its attention to the league.”
The Spain left-back, and the rest of the defence, will have a tough time containing the Barcelona attack that has scored 28 goals in 11 matches. Twelve of those goals have been scored by Robert Lewandowski, a clear favourite for the Golden Boot.
“It’s difficult to stop Lewandowski,” said Gaya. “When Barcelona have the ball, they are very strong and depend on a player like him. You have to remain close to him and not let him turn. He scores from any position. We have to be aggressive and mark him well, but it will be wrong to just focus on Lewandowski.
“(Ousmane) Dembele is also outstanding. He’s unique. Very few players have the ability to do what we can in a one versus one situation. I think he’s the most difficult player to defend against.”
