Anthony ‘Choco’ Lozano (28 years old) will be today one of the threats of the Cadiz on his visit to Camp Nou. The Honduran striker is an intense striker, one of those who cannot be left a meter because it messes you up. In fact, in the Barça they know it well because he played in the subsidiary for one season, 2017-18 at the request of Gerard López. now in the Cadiz is settled and living an exciting phase with Sergio Gonzalez on the bench.
How are you doing at Cádiz?
Well, I’m happy, let’s see if we can save ourselves. I think we can make it.
Do you miss Barça?
It was a wonderful experience, I wasn’t there for long but being close to such good players makes you excited, as well as being able to live in a spectacular city like Barcelona, where there is everything. I was at Tenerife and I was able to have a good year in Segunda A. Gerard noticed me and I was able to sign through him since he was the subsidiary’s coach. He asked me and the club made the effort. I started very well, scoring goals, and I even went up to train with the first team. The one I got on with the best was Fali and we met again at Cádiz. I was also with Carles Aleñá, with Cucurella, with Sergi Palencia…
How do you face the match at the Camp Nou?
It will be very complicated and even more so after they were eliminated against Eintracht Frankfurt. They will have the obligation to win and it will be twice as difficult as before.
Have you noticed what Eintracht did to beat them?
Many things can be applied, launching the counterattack, attacking the spaces left by Barça… But we have another way of playing.
Did you see the game against Eintracht?
I saw the second half and it seemed like a great game, Eintracht played very well. Barcelona had the bad luck that the first goal didn’t come early and the Germans, with the cons, were very effective. That, being effective in front of the goal, is what gives you the option of beating a whole Barça team. I think Pedri’s injury marked the match, he is a player who fixes the rival a lot because he breaks lines. Barça notices it a lot if Pedri is not there. It’s a shame he got injured because it’s nice to watch him play.
Lozano fights with Alba in the Barça-Cádiz of LaLiga 2020-21
How can you hurt Barça?
In the end it will mark a lot the effectiveness that we have at the door. We are not going to have many chances and it is about having one or two clear and one or both going in. And also that they are not fine. Barça was always a difficult opponent and now much more so because they are playing very well, with a lot of ball possession. Hopefully they don’t get it right.
How is Sergio’s Cadiz?
The proposal of this coach is different from the previous one, the team tries to propose and it can be a nice game. You can’t go one on one for Barça because they run over you. In fact, we know that we are going to have to defend well, the development of the game itself is going to put us behind, for sure.
How has Cádiz changed compared to Alvaro Cervera’s?
It has changed a lot, really. Cervera had a way of watching football that has given him results. He locked himself up to defend well and looked for a counter. Sergio asks you for other things, something different. Situations that Cervera suggested you not do, Sergio asks you to do. For example, a pass between the lines or that the striker goes down a little to receive and have more ball. Sergio demands that you run a lot defending but he also gives you other options to attack that they didn’t give us before. Everyone has the method of it.
You drew 1-1 last season at the Camp Nou. Does that serve as a reference for this game?
I remember that we tied at the end with a goal from Alex, from a penalty. Lenglet did it, who seems to me to be a great central defender but who has had bad luck in this aspect of penalties. But that draw is not a reference because Barça is playing much better, Messi was there that year and the fact that he is not here gives us a plus. But anyway they have world-class players like Dembélé, Aubamegyang, Memphis… They have artillery, an incredible team. Anyone can make you year.
What do you think of Xavi’s Barça?
I like it a lot because I have been able to see the change. It took several games to start but it started to work very well and it reminds me of that Barça that was very difficult to beat. A defeat can always come, but in general it is difficult to beat them.
And of the Barça forwards, you who are also a top level striker, who do you like the most?
I like Aubameyang’s style, respecting others. Is very complete. ‘Auba’ scores with a header, with the left, with the right, poking it… Then there is also Luuk de Jong, who is a born finisher.
If he scores a goal, will he celebrate it?
One tries to respect a lot where he was, although I did not make his debut with the first team. But the way Cádiz is, we’re not here not to celebrate a goal against Barça.
What do you expect from Cádiz?
We have games with direct rivals in this final stretch of the League and it will be a long way, there are many finals to fight for. And against Barça we are going to go out and compete as always. We have a squad that will compete, that’s for sure. Here nothing is given up or thrown away. We can not.
On some occasion it even sounded like Barça’s winter reinforcement, the season in which Braithwaite signed…
Lozano, in the Espanyol-Cádiz of LaLiga 2021-22
Something sounded, true, but one has been in this football thing for a long time and there may be something, but until the formal offer arrives, you cannot think about those things.
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