Ernesto Valverde: Celta with Unzué are dangerous

Barça welcome Celta Vigo this Saturday to Camp Nou (1.00pm CET), one of the team who have done well against the blaugranes in recent seasons. The coach of the Galician club is none other than Juan Carlos Unzué, former Barça player and assistant coach for the last three seasons. “Unzué is very studious and the fact that he knows the team so well makes him dangerous. In the end, when you play against Barça, you try different things, I know because I have been up against them a lot,” said current coach Ernesto Valverde in his traditional pre-game press conference at the Ciutat Esportiva following training on Friday.

Celta’s good record against FC Barcelona did not pass by unnoticed. “We will take it into account, we know that they have picked up results in the last few years against us. Past results don’t tell you everything but we have to be careful,” continued Valverde before also touching on the following topics:

Celta’s style of play

“With Unzué as coach, that means they have a very clear way of playing, they want to take the initiative in the game and they will want to do that at Camp Nou. I played with Unzué in 1988 and we have met a lot of times, he’s a great person and I wish him the best.”

Deulofeu

“The fact that he is not in the squad is because we have a long list of players and sometimes some come in and others go out. Deulofeu is insistent in attack, taking players on and trying to make the difference up front.”

Dembélé and Rafinha

“Dembélé’s progression is going well. We think he could be back soon but we don’t want to take any risks given the amount of time he has been injured. In theory, we won’t have him back until after Christmas but we will see how he goes in the next few days and when he can rejoin training with the rest of the squad.”

On Rafinha: “We think we have to be cautious, at the moment he feels good and he is looking forward to rejoining the group.”

Connection Messi – Jordi Alba

“They are two players who understand each other well. Jordi Alba attacks space well and he knows how to get behind the defence with his pace. Messi has extraordinary vision and sees everything. They look for each other and we take advantage of that, it is one of our strengths.”