Barcelona will try to make amends for Sunday’s loss to Osasuna in the Spanish league when they play Leverkusen on Wednesday in their campaign to defend their UEFA Champions League title.
The Catalonian side will face Bayer Leverkusen, only three days after only their second loss of the season. And despite the recent upset, the side goes positive into the match.
"Before the match we never look at the result," attacking defender Dani Alves told journalists on Tuesday. "We simply play to win and we play to win tomorrow."
But playing Leverkusen is no walk in the park, Alves said, it is a team "that is very strong at home, they have won all the games at home. We have to be very careful to avoid any surprises. We will play with our philosophy, we play to win."
Barca coach Pep Guardiola is convinced of the same thing. However, he knows and understands the problems his team might be facing in the round of 16 match - the first knockout round: "Leverkusen is a team that has won nine points at home. Bayer is physically stronger than Barcelona, we have to look out for counter attacks, high balls, the players are very tall. They have good players such as Kiessling and Schuerrle. If you don't have control of the ball they can create problems for you."
But Guardiola is convinced that his team will be victorious on Tuesday. "And we are .. back in the League, it will be tough to recover the points but we are in this round and we are going to try, our target is play a better sports and we'll arrive to the quarter finals and go to step by step."
Reuters