Our MidField Maestro Xavi cannot wait to take on Inter Milan in our Champions League showdown on Wednesday, but he believes his team is better equipped for the win. The two giants lock horns at the San Siro in Matchday 1 of the group phase, and Xavi thinks that it will be a cracking fixture.
Here we have an excerpt of all the player interviews after the game against Valencia as well the quotes of Pep Guardiola and Laporta.
Pep Guardiola knows that Barca’s game against Inter Milan is going to be their most difficult challenge so far this season. Going to San Siro is never easy and going there to play an excellent squad under a Manager of Jose Mourinho’s class only adds to the difficulties. Barça begin the defence of their CL title this Wednesday in the Giuseppe Meazza( Its the same San Siro, Called by this name when Inter play here ) and Josep Guardiola is aware that his team will have to play well if they want to win:
“It’ll be a tough test, a very difficult match. Inter have a lot of strength. They’re strong in all aspects. We’ll have to play a complete match”.
The International Break ( Really do not understand why it is called a break when all the players end up playing 2 International Matches in it! ) is about to be over and Barca faces a run into 5 Matches in the League and 2 in the Champions League. There has already been a lot of talk about our squad being a little thin in certain areas like the Defense. So playing so many matches in such a short span will definitely ask a lot of questions from Pep’s team. Are they up for it? Here is an In-Depth Analysis of the Squad to focus more light on this issue.
Recent media reports flying around in Spain suggest that Pep Guardiola has made it clear to the Board that the squad only requires established stars that can directly find their way into the strating XI or youngsters who can be groomed to greatness. Players will not be signed to warm the benches. Remaining consistent with the policy of promoting the youth products from the Cantera, Txiki Begiristain has also emphasized the addition of youth team players to the squad. Barca has, in the past few years, successfully promoted its youngsters to the main squad and many of them have become superstars of the game today - Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Victor Valdes, Sergi Busquets and very recently Pedro.
Having off-loaded Sylvinho, Martin Caceres and Aliaksandr Hleb, while Eidur Gudjohnsen is in talks about going, Guardiola has trimmed that type of player from his squad.
Those whom Guardiola thinks should play regularly but have no place yet in his side will be loaned – as Victor Sanchez, Jeffren Suarez and Alberto Botia have already been.
