FCBARCELONA.CAT

05.02.2008 16:19

Milito: “Comeback is possible”

Berta Brau

The Barça defence is enjoying his finest form since the 1986/87 season and the Argentinian feels such a good record is due to "great team work, as all the players create pressure and help to stop the opposition”.

The win over Osasuna means Rijkaard’s side are now 6 adrift of Real Madrid, and with 16 league games still to go, Gaby Milito has told a press conference that he believes his team can still win the league and that “we have always felt that was possible, we consider the League to be a realistic opportunity. Now we are six points behind but even if the difference was still nine the message would be the same.”

“In the same direction”

Gaby Milito is optimistic for his team’s league hopes and feels "the whole team is working in the same direction and going game by game, exclusively focusing on our own game and getting points three by three”.

Great at the back

This season’s stats are the best FC Barcelona has posted in defence since the 1986/87 season, and Milito says this is because “we are coming up with great team work and it’s working well. All of the players create a lot of pressure up front and that means the opposition have very few chances to trouble our defence”.

Key man in defence

Ever since he arrived in Barcelona, Gaby Milito has been an important member of the back four. Asked about his role, the Argentinian said “we are all useful and important and depend on each other. The truth is I am very happy with my performances as well as those of the team in general.” But he never noticed a lack of balance in previous incarnations of Barça, saying “when I was at Zaragoza I would never have said that Barça was missing something in defence. I always found them to be a very well balanced team both in attack and in defence.”

Eto’o and Touré Yaya

Is the team missing Samuel Eto’o and Touré Yaya, who have both made it into the last four of the African Cup of Nations? Milito merely wishes them all the best and says that although they are undoubtedly important players, they have others that are able to cover for their absence. Speaking about the Cameroonian, he said "he is surely the player we have with the biggest goalscoring instinct and he showed just that in the few games before he left ... but the goals will still come because we have some good players that are quite capable of scoring”.