Barcelona coach Hansi Flick wants a return to winning ways and urges his side to “be defensively prepared”
Levante coach Luis Castro is ready to “fight” for a result against Barcelona but is wary of the Catalans coming off the back of two straight defeats.
Barcelona lost badly against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals, a chastening 4-0 defeat, before losing again last weekend against Girona to surrender the top spot to Real Madrid.
Madrid lost on Saturday, a 2-1 defeat to Osasuna, meaning Barcelona can regain the initiative in the title race if they can defeat Levante at Camp Nou.
“They are one of the best teams in the world,” said Castro. “It’s not the best time to play against them, because when they lose they come to the next game with maximum concentration.”
In the first leg in Valencia in August, the tie was heading to a stalemate after Levante had initially led 2-0 up and Barcelona equalised, but then a late own goal by Unai Elgezabal handed the Catalans a victory.
Levante’s coach will be hoping he can replicate a similar performance and perhaps eventually leave Camp Nou with a reward, but his side have currently lost their last three games and are 19th in the league, facing a team aiming to return to winning ways and the top of the table. He knows it won’t be easy.
“They are a team with a lot of individual quality and collectively are very aggressive,” said Castro. “We have to lose as few balls as possible and defend together. We’re going to fight as always and try to give our best.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick is eager to bounce back after suffering the lowest point of their season so far.
“I’m extremely focused,” Flick said. “The current situation and the two days of rest we got have helped us think about a lot of things.
“For me, this is a huge opportunity to see how far the team can go. We know that when we play with confidence, things go better. When we play against a team that plays with a deep defence, we lose the ball there, which gives the opponents wide spaces for counterattacks.”
So what do Barcelona do?
According to Flick: “We need to be defensively prepared, and if we lose the ball and then aren’t in the right position, it opens up spaces for the opponents as well.”
