14.10.2009 14:58
Alves: “We’re expecting the best Valencia”
Jesús Carrillo
The word from the Valencia camp is that manager Unai Emery will be missing some key players for the visit of FC Barcelona on Saturday but Alves is taking nothing for granted. “We’ll prepare the match to meet the best Valencia”.
Dani Alves returned from international duty two days ahead of schedule and resumed training with
the Barça squad today (Wednesday). He told reporters: “The match in the Mestalla is always
one of the most difficult of the season. We experienced that last year and Valencia will be a very
complicated opponent for us”.
David Villa
Dani Alves made special mention of Valencia’s Spanish
international striker David Villa: “He’s very important for them. Villa shoulders the
responsibility for their attacking game and he is their main goal scorer. If he doesn’t play
it’ll be good news for us. If confirmed, his absence will be very important”.
“We don’t need to play in the Mestalla in order to find out how far we can go
this year. The Valencia game is just another step along the path we’ve marked out for
ourselves. If we beat them we’ll open up a gap on a team that we’ll be competing
against at the end of the season so we have to go for a win and take our chance”.
Just statistics
A win on Saturday would create a Club record of consecutive wins at the start of the league
season. “That’s just statistics. It’s not important. We’re very strong both
at home and away. I insist that nobody needs to wait for the Valencia result in order to measure
our aspirations”.
As for the atmosphere he’s expecting in the Mestalla: “All our away matches are
identical. A lot of pressure, but we’re used to it”.
Messi and Argentina
Alves expressed his concern at the criticism being heaped on Leo Messi
in Argentina: “It’s a surprise. He’s the best player in the world but he
can’t do it by himself. Without wishing to upset anyone in Argentina, I don’t think you
can compare the way Messi plays for Barcelona with the way he plays for Argentina. Simply because
Barcelona plays much better than Argentina”.
Nerves in Argentina
“In Argentina they’re very nervous about not qualifying for the World Cup and
they’re firing off against everything. Leo can take them to the World Cup and I hope he can
demonstrate that tonight. A World Cup without the best player in the world wouldn’t be the
same. Argentina has a problem but it’s not Messi. By contrast, Brazil has kept the same group
and we’re through to the World Cup with thee games to spare. We’ve won titles.
Argentina changes players too much. You don’t make a team like that”.