Lenglet back in the final - this time for Barça!

Clément Lenglet’s first season at FC Barcelona is drawing to a close and after sitting out a few games through injury, he is raring to go in this weekend’s Copa del Rey Final, to be played in the city where he was living before he came to the Camp Nou – and for the club that Barça beat 5-0 a year ago to clinch the trophy for the fourth time in a row. Since then, he has switched the Sevilla white for the Barça blaugrana...

It comes in what has been a doubly special week for him, for he has also been called up to the French senior team for the first time. He told the club media all about it:

Up for the cup

“I’m really excited about the final and the chance to win it for the first time. I lost the last final I played in so I’d really like to do it this time and get to enjoy the moment.”

First Barça goal

“The game with Cultural Leonesa was a difficult one and I got to score my first goal for Barça. You always remember special moments like that.”

“It was a strange month for me with so many games and that was one we knew we had to win.”

The road to the Benito Villamarín

“It’s not easy to reach the final of any competition. We suffered a lot along the way but now we can win another title and we’ll do everything we can to make sure we do.”

“We have had to play very good, intense games to stay alive in the cup.”

Keys to the final

“Last year we found it very hard to deal with the pace that Barça put into the game. We’ll be looking to play a similar kind of game this year.”

“Leo Messi can change a game in a matter of seconds. It’s much better havening on your team than against you. Last year we really struggled with him and now we just hope he does what he knows how to do.”

Team vibes

“These are not easy times either for the FC Barcelona players or fans after getting knocked out of the Champions League. We’re hoping to get our game back in time for such an important match.”

“It’s the last game of the season and we want to go off on our holidays on a high.”

Valencia

“Valencia are a very compact side. They have a strong defence and a quality goalkeeper. They’re also very quick on the counter-attack, with some top class players who like to use space and a very good playmaker in the middle.”

“It’ll be a demanding game for our defence. We’ll have to watch our backs because they’ll try to mount counter-attacks every time we lose the ball. I’m sure we’ll need to run a lot. Valencia have their qualities and we’ll need to be careful about what might happen.”

Cillessen safe as houses

“Cillessen is an incredible goalkeeper. He helps us a lot and he has a very strong mind. He’s very competitive and that’s very important for the team, and especially reassuring for the defence, because we need to know we have a focused goalie behind us.”