AD Ceuta To Enjoy Barcelona Match
At this stage last season, Barcelona’s rivals Real Madrid got stunned 4-0 by Alcorcon – a team that cannot boast of Spanish Primera Liga football. On Tuesday night, the AD Ceuta vs Barcelona Copa del Rey match presents chances for an upset and the hosts are aware of that.
However, all they want to do is to treat their honorable meeting against the Blaugrana with the approach they think it deserves. As he told EFE, AD Ceuta coach Joao de Reus believes that his players will gain experience against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona where many names featured at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
De Reus’ men are under no pressure to pick up a great result against the Catalan giants although they could well turn tonight’s clash at the Estadio Alfonso Murube into a historic one. Their coach explained:
“The match will be unique because we’ll be thinking about winning the tie. But the thing will also be to enjoy it and to give it as a just reward to those players who work every day. It’s about giving them something different.
“All I want from my players is to have them make the match as hard as they can for Barcelona in order to dignify the competition. In a single game, anything can happen.
“Either way, we’ll enjoy our experience without forgetting it. To my players, it will serve as an experience of playing against very important people.”
Barcelona Won’t Disrespect AD Ceuta
But AD Ceuta’s players may not have the opportunity to come up against Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, or Xavi Hernandez who is being rested at the moment. Pep Guardiola may line up a second-string side – not because of disrespect towards Ceuta but because of a coaching decision as he explained during an interview with the media:
“There are players in the squad with a perfect profile for this match. We need fresh legs and we have players who are accustomed to playing matches in the Segunda B and below.
“Maybe this game isn’t important for them [Ceuta], but it’s a dangerous one for us. Our team has never disrespected an opponent. We won’t disrespect Ceuta either where many a big Barcelona fans.
“I understand that they’d like to see Xavi, Iniesta, or Messi. However, there are other great players in my team.”
Asked about his thoughts ahead of tonight’s Copa del Rey match against minnows Ceuta, the Barcelona manager declared:
“We must not get lazy. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the team and we are ready to compete.”
You’d expect Barcelona to get the job done tonight ahead of the second leg of this Copa del Rey tie which should take place on November 11, 2010. However, the Blaugrana haven’t shown much strength lately with Lionel Messi looking to be the main man behind victories. The Argentine has scored all of Barcelona’s goals in the team’s last two matches, so tonight will be an opportunity for Pep Guardiola to once again prove that his side isn’t a one-man team and that potential is stocked in abundance.
