Ernesto Valverde: Roma no surprise package

Ernesto Valverde: Roma no surprise package

The blaugrana coach rejects the idea that Barça are favourites and adds that his team will need to be at their best to go through

Ernesto Valverde appeared before the press ahead of the first leg of Barça’s first leg quarter final clash with Italian side AS Roma. The Barça boss assured the gathered media at the Ciutat Esportiva: “Roma are no surprise package, if you look at their matches in the group stages, they played really well.” The blaugrana coach pointed out that the Serie A side won their group in the competition ahead of the likes of Chelsea and Atlético Madrid, adding that the team will need “two good performances to go through.”

For the Barça boss the tie is an “attractive one that we are really looking forward to.” Valverde does not see his side as favourites given that “once the game starts, anything can happen.”

The Italian club’s main threat will come from their discipline, their pressing high up the field and their prowess at set-pieces according to the Barça coach. Playing in Serie A, according to Valverde, “guarantees that they [Roma] will be competitive.”

To conclude, the boss said that the Camp Nou crowd would be “really switched on.” He added: “We are coming into the business end of the season and the fans know it.”

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