Luis Enrique: Málaga a good test for us

Saturday brings another fixture in Barça’s busy April schedule as the blaugranes travel to Andalusia for the second time in a week to take on Málaga. Coach Luis Enrique is only contemplating one thing – victory. “The league title passes through Málaga. If we don’t pick up three points and our rivals do then it will be much tougher for us so we are not looking beyond that,” said the Asturian boss in his pre-game press conference at the Ciutat Esportiva.

“We have always had problems against them [Málaga], on an individual level they have a lot of talent and it will be a good test for us it we are to continue in the battle for the league.”

Málaga have a good record against Barça in recent seasons with the Andalusian holding Luis Enrique's team to a goalless draw in the league at Camp Nou earlier in the season. “Oddly, they have done so with different coaches, Javi Gracia, Juande Ramos and now they have Michel in charge. I think it is to do with the individual talent they have, the can cause us problems in attack and defence and we have to put in a good performance to overcome that,” Luis Enrique explained.

With the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Juventus in Turin coming up next Tuesday, the Barça coach said there was place for looking ahead. “We have to focus on the league first. We know we are back in Champions League actions soon and that is exciting but we are award of the risks of not being centred on La Liga,” he warned.

Nevertheless, the Barça coach ended on an optimistic note with regards to his team’s league title challenge with his team “ready to win the eight games remaining despite the difficulty of doing so.”