In an exclusive interview with Barca TV and fcbarcelona.cat, Deportivo’s Mexican midfielder Andrés Guardado admitted: “we are a long way from being the team we were in the first half of the season, but we’re coming to Barcelona to turn that around.
Lotina’s Deportivo have taken just 1 point from the last 15 and Guardado
accepted: “we aren’t doing well and it’s got to all of us, but on Wednesday we
will be looking to break the bad run of results we’ve had, put in a performance to make
things tough for Barca and maybe take a point home. It’ll be difficult, but not
impossible”.
Respect
Guardado knows what Deportivo are up against, commenting: “the Nou Camp is a legendary
stadium and we are going to face the best team in the world, but that has to be an extra motivation
for our young team”. Guardado will probably be up against Dani Alves and he acknowledged:
“he’s one of the worst players to try and mark, he’s constantly getting forward
and then getting back, but we have to make sure that he is worried about us too!”
Filipe Luís
Deportivo’s season has undoubtedly been overshadowed by the terrible injury to
their Brazilian full back Filipe Luís in January, since when the team have failed to reproduce
their early season form and Guardado confessed: “he has been and still is an important
absentee for us. He gave us an outlet on the left and losing him is the main reason why we have
lost the solidity we had in the first half of the campaign. Our form has suffered and we are also
leaving far too much space at the back – it’ll be tough for us to get back to being the
team we were”.
Madrid game
Guardado also commented on Saturday’s game at the Bernabeu: “Barca were clearly
superior. I thought they won easily and they could have beaten Madrid by an even bigger margin.
Barca were on top and Madrid just couldn’t match them”. Finally, Guardado warned:
“if Barca are 100% they are unbeatable right now, but we have to be very focussed and able to
take advantage of any slip ups they make to get a result “.
Images: Real club Deportivo de la Coruña
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Messi’s shirt
Andrés Guardado is a subscriber to Barca TV and revealed: “I always catch the Barca games and
the replays of past matches, as well as checking out the Barca B games with Jonathan dos Santos
playing”.
The Mexican also made a plea to Leo Messi: “I always try and swap shirts with him, but
there’s always another teammate who gets there first. If Leo is watching this interview,
I’d like to ask him to swap with me after the game this time”.