FC Barcelona have golden chance to take the lead over Real Madrid at the summit of La Liga after the Los Blancosa shocking defeat at the hands of Athletic Club yesterday. But coach Luis Enrique has warned his players to not to underestimate the strength of Rayo Vallecano.
Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat against Athletic Bilbao at San Memes yesterday. The Los Blancos are still two points ahead of FC Barcelona but the Catalans are hosting Rayo Vallecano today and they have a great chance to take lead over their eternal rivals for the first time in almost 4 months.
But FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique believes that Rayo Vallecano has the ability to give his team some troubles.
a All opponents pose their own threat, but Rayo Vallecano are one of the teams with most personality in the league,a said Luis Enrique in his press conference.
a They are one of the few teams who will be challenging for possession. We are really looking forward to this gamea .
a If they pressure us well and we arena t at our very best then we will suffer. Just like when we play teams who come and park the bus, wea ll have to find a solution or the game could get difficulta
This game between FC Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano will start at 12 in the noon and it is being reported that Blaugrana players do not like this kick-off time. But Luis Enrique said that he has no problems with this time.
a Ita s neither better nor worse for us, ita s just different. It changes everything – the routine is different from when you play at night or in the evening , but ita s a similar time to when we normally train , so instead of training, we play a match!a
Meanwhile, ahead of todaya s game, FC Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has also warned his teammates to forget about mid week Copa Del Rey victory over Villarreal and concentrate on La Liga and Champions League again.
“We are in great form and extremely happy,” Iniesta said to Marca.
“But now we are going to put the final to one side and focus on the other two competitions we are in.
“Reaching a final is reason enough to be proud. Now we want to finish the job at hand. When you are in a good moment you have to try and make it last even longer. We are in a good place, but we can’t stop now.
“It is a fine line between moving forward and standing still, so we will just think about what is next and that is the game against Rayo Vallecano. Then we will think about what comes after that.”