Facing Real Madrid is never easy for Barcelona, despite their recent dominance. But even if they have beat Los Blancos to three of the last four La Liga titles, coach Ernesto Valverde admitted in an interview with Barça magazine that he is keen on facing Los Blancos as soon as possible.
The Spaniard revealed he is trying to figure out how the team's bitter rival will deal with Cristiano Ronaldo's absence, and how his departure from La Liga may benefit Lionel Messi due to the never-ending comparisons between the two footballers.
"Ronaldo's departure puts their rivalry on hold, especially since there was always talk about what each of them did during the weekend. I'm waiting to see the effect his departure has on Real Madrid's playing style, and more importantly, how they react to his absence and how they try to replace him in this transfer window, Valverde stated.
The former Athletic tactician admitted that the team's goals will be determined by their performance in the domestic competitions, namely, La Liga.
"It's true that some years ago, Barcelona won all the titles, and then, the team won five out of six trophies. You can't expect us to do that every year. What we can do is try to win them, but we will decide if we need to focus on any of them by how we are doing in La Liga. It's the only competition that we can win right from the start. The UEFA Champions League is trickier, because you can win it or lose it in 10 minutes," the coach added.
Before the interview concluded, Valverde promised he will try to keep Barcelona's tradition to give homegrown players a chance to shine, but their development can't be rushed, which forces the team to look elsewhere to boost the squad.
"It's not easy to develop talent. We may find suitable players to work with in other teams, but we have to make it our duty to bring our academy players to the first team. They have something in their DNA that keeps this team going," Valverde concluded.
