26.04.2011 12:48
Zubizarreta: "We’re going there to be competitive"
www.fcbarcelona.cat
The Sports Director of Professional Football, Andoni Zubizarreta, stressed that Barça will travel to Madrid for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final "to be competitive” and be "faithful to our style of play".
Zubizarreta attended the media at Barcelona airport, just before Barca’s first team set off
on their trip to Madrid, where on Wednesday they’ll face the team managed by Mourinho in the
first leg of the semifinals of the top European competition.
True to a playing style
When asked how the team felt before this round of the Champions League, Zubizarreta
replied that the team will be competitive, whilst maintaining their style of play: "We’re
going there to be competitive, to maintain our playing style, and be faithful to how we understand
that football should be played. In short, we’ll go out there to do what we know best”.
With the greatest aspiration
Zubizarreta doesn’t believe either team is favourite to make it through to
the Final. "In Champions League ties, all games are really even and very close" he pointed out,
just before commenting that everything that is spoken in this sense “is something we
can’t control". He added that "It’s a fantastic tie against a great team, and
we’ll take it on with the greatest aspiration to do well. There’s no doubt that both
teams will do everything possible to satisfy the dreams of the fans".
In the semis for the fourth consecutive season
In answer to a question about whether he thought that, due to injuries, Barça are
coming into the decisive part of the competition with resources limited, the Sports Director of
Professional Soccer replied that "we’re here with the greatest aspirations". He also pointed
out that "we’re in the Champions League semifinals for the fourth consecutive time, which
demonstrates great stability....this reassures us all as a club".
The importance of learning from mistakes
Finally, Zubizarreta, who stressed that he hadn’t seen hardly any differences
between the League and Cup games between Barca and Real Madrid, is convinced that in the Bernabéu
on Wednesday "it will be very similar to what we have seen up to now”. Precisely about the
Cup Final in Valencia, Zubizarreta made it clear that the team "learned a lot" from that match. "In
the end this is a process in which players learn from what they suffered and what they enjoyed, and
the opposition players do the same thing" he concluded.