Barcelona News: Valverde says club will face Real Madrid draw

Ernesto Valverde said that Barcelona would face a list of players charged for the month of February after the semi-final draw of the Copa del Rey on Friday allowed the holders a draw against Real Madrid.

The Barca have won the tournament four years in a row, but will have to get rid of their rivals to qualify for the final after Real Betis and Valencia have clashed in the other semifinal.

Valverde's men will also play the first leg of their last Champions League match against Lyon this month, as they start the month of March with a trip to Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga, just after the second shock stage of the Copa at the same place.

Saturday's visit to Camp Nou Valencia is the first of seven games that Barca will play in February, but Valverde is not worried about the looming match-ups as they continue to argue on several fronts. .

"A huge match, two big matches," Valverde told reporters on Friday following a request for reaction to the draw. "It's a time when we are both engaged in a battle for first place in the league.The Champions League resumes in a few weeks, so this adds up to two huge cup games.

"It's a pretty heavy and intense game load, but it's very appealing to the fans and to ourselves." It should be an excellent semifinal, let's see if we can qualify for the final .

"I think it's tight and I do not know, it's ridiculous to talk about percentages." It will be a close semi-final and they have calmed down a bit in the league, but they seem to have overcome this challenge by playing football with confidence, getting better results too.

"Valencia tomorrow will be at the top of its form and Madrid will be the same.I do not want to say everything.Tuesday, it will be useful to give a press conference because I will have said everything today.

"Of course, we are convinced that we can deal with it [the fixture list]we offer a full guarantee, but we do not know what the setbacks could be tomorrow or even during the training.

"The weeks are getting ready and we have three games in six days, then three days in eight days, and then after Athletic Bilbao [on February 10] a free week that will be of great help. So we will try to organize the rest time as well as our playing time hoping not to suffer injuries.

"I'm honest and I'll tell you right after the Sevilla match that we knew that Madrid would be a possibility, a one-third chance to win them, neither against Betis nor against Valencia, we knew it would be a heavy dating list. The Madrid games have a special connotation, but nothing will ever be easy. "

Atletico was eliminated from the Copa del Rey by Girona ahead of the quarter-finals, thus eliminating his league table compared to Barca, but Valverde said he would not trade places with Diego Simeone.

"Ask them, they will answer that," he says. "I'm pretty happy where I am now, thank you.

The article continues below

"We will train the best possible team to win [against Valencia]. We will see how players train later today.

"Do not deny that the league is always our priority, our priority is to win every game, but we can not afford any gap, so we have to face our best team in every game."

Valverde confirmed that the match against Valencia was coming too early for Ousmane Dembele and that he did not know if the winger would be available Wednesday for the first leg against Madrid.