The Elche coach highlights the talent of the Barça youth, although he hopes to surprise at the Camp Nou
ELCHE (ALICANTE), Dec. 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Elche’s coach, Francisco Rodríguez, highlighted the talent of the youth squad and the FC Barcelona squad, and affirmed that they will face it “as if it were the best in history”, although he did not rule out giving the surprise this Saturday (18:30 hours) at Camp Nou to stay out of the relegation places in LaLiga Santander.
“We have to face each other as if it were the best Barça in history. Depending on the context, we can push a little higher or come further back, and not allow individual duels because they are very good at that,” he commented at a press conference the day before of the visit to Barcelona.
For Francisco, the objective “is to always be out of relegation” and he arrives with morale fueled by qualifying for the round of 32 of the Cup, where he will face his former team Almería, despite not having a good game against Unionistas de Salamanca.
“The team arrives very well. The time to prepare it has been short because we arrived yesterday afternoon and people have recovered well. We are practically all available to face an opponent who may not be at their best, but in the end we face to very young players who are going to make people talk in the future. It is always very difficult to play against Barça, “he warned.
With the losses of Kiko Casilla, Pedro Bigas and Darío ‘Pipa’ Benedetto, the coach of the franjiverde team predicted a match in which Elche will “suffer a lot”, and in which they should not “be confused.” “Barça is not getting results, but against Betis, Espanyol and in Pamplona it was able to solve the games, although it is not lucky face to door. We have to be supportive and work our options very well,” he said.
On the other hand, the Colombian international full-back Johan Mojica will be available, who missed the previous match at Mestalla through injury. “He is about to start. The evolution has been perfect and he has trained with the rest of his teammates one hundred percent. He is an important player for us as long as he is well,” he said.
Francisco stressed that Barça “has that hunger for players who are going to be top at world level” in the coming years, and that with Xavi Hernández on the bench “he dominates the positional game a little more”, he has more possession than Koeman’s and “it’s threatening your back.”
“But the names are different. It does not have Leo, Suárez or Neymar. There are going to be phases in which we have to interpret the psychological aspect well. This has to come with order, discipline and generating doubts,” he said.
Regarding the controversy of the ‘phantom goal’ that they did not consider valid in Valencia, and that could have led to a tie, Francisco said that the referee, the Castilian-Manchego Javier Alberola Rojas, “is fantastic.” “What happened last week we cannot do anything. I am convinced that everything will turn out well and it will be a good sign that we are all happy,” he commented.
Likewise, he referred to Almería, the rival cupbearer, as “the best team in Second with a squad made to be in First”. “It is a difficult game, although we are happy because it is a comfortable journey. Almeria is the city that has given me everything and has formed me as a person,” he said.