Barcelona: Champions FC Barcelona’s coach Luis Enrique valued his side’s draw to face Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The tie sees the Spanish league leaders take on the side that is second in the table and their only rivals for the domestic title and is one of the toughest ties Barcelona could have had as they look to defend their title, although Enrique expected a tough tie, reports Xinhua.
“The rivals are always complicated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League,” said Enrique on Saturday, who preferred to look on the bright side. “The positive thing is that we know each other a lot. We don’t like having to play against a side from the same country, but with the number of Spanish teams in the quarter-finals, it is likely to happen,” he admitted.
Barcelona lead La liga by eight points and have also reached the final of the King’s Cup.
“The best moment of the season is arriving and we want to be able to face it with guarantees. We want to be able to win everything, we have a very tough rival in the Cup (Sevilla) and we have a difficult rival in Europe. Everything is close to being won, but it has yet to be decided,” said the coach.
Barcelona travel to fourth place Villarreal on Sunday and Enrique admitted that Andres Iniesta would miss out with a muscle problem, while praising Sunday’s rivals.
Finally he said that although Luis Suarez was one booking away from missing the derby match against Real Madrid, which is the first game after the international break. “It’s not something that worries us,” confirmed the coach.
