FCBARCELONA.CAT

24.08.2007 14:50

Ronaldinho: “The Squad is more motivated than ever”

Marc Guillén

The Brazilian ace has assured that “all the players have their feet firmly on the ground. I see the players more motivated than ever.” Ronaldinho was optimistic of his team’s chances ahead of the start of the new Liga season on Sunday.

The Brazilian forward does not see having a lot of quality players as a problem “everyone has a lot of experience and has won many things, however, everyone has come here with a lot of hunger for titles.” Ronaldinho and the team are aware of the mistakes made last season and added that everyone will be working to see Barça win titles.”

The Barça number ‘10’ has been able to rest well during the summer as he did not participate in the Copa America—allowing him to take part in the full pre-season preparation: “I’m very happy to have been able to start with everyone else. I feel good”. The Brazilian has been one of the highlights of the blaugrana’s pre-season campaign and was on form for Brazil’s win midweek, which saw him bag a goal and set up the other.

Work for a start

Ronaldinho is aware that this season there is a lot of competition for places, however, he is not worried: “I like training hard and earning my place in the starting line-up”. He also explained “as with all players, I want to play all the minutes available. It is the coach though who has the final say and so we can only work as hard as we can to show him we deserve a place.”

Belletti’s departure

The 27 year old forward that he has bitter sweet feelings about Belletti’s departure to Chelsea: “I’m sad because Belletti was a good friend of mine and now he’s not here, on the other hand, I’m happy as he’s taken the next step in his career and has gone to a powerful club like Chelsea”.