Jordi Alba: 'We can do this without Messi'

“Inter are a very hard team to beat and they’re playing well at the moment. But we think we can win this, especially with our fans behind us”.

Jordi Alba was speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash at the Camp Nou, for which Barça will have to make do without injured star striker Leo Messi.

“His absence especially affects my own game” he confessed. “But he’s important for all of us because he makes us all play better. We’ll have to do our very best, and I’m more than certain that we will.”

“Nobody can replace Messi but we’ll just have to make sure we win our next few matches with the other great players we have.”

Top management

Asked about his manager, who spoke just a few minutes after he did, the full-back commented that “Valverde is very good at squad management. He’s a great communicator and that’s got us out of all kinds of tight spots. I’m delighted to work for him.” 

“We all need to improve in defence” he continued. “We are all doing a great job but sometimes things work out for the better or for the worse. We are all putting in the effort to get things working better.”

Favourite UCL memory

If he starts, tomorrow will be Jordi Alba’s 50th Champions League appearance in the blaugrana shirt. Asked which game stands out in the memory most, he said “it would be the 4-0 win against Milan in the 2012/13 season, when I scored the last goal of the night. We’d lost the first leg 2-0, and that night at Camp Nou was very special not just for me but for the whole club.”