“We are up against a good team. Rayo are an attacking outfit and they have skilful players in midfield and up front. Most of the games they have played so far have been tight,” explained Ernesto Valverde in his pre-game press conference ahead of Saturday’s 8.45pm CET kick off in Vallecas. “We have to be careful because they are play good football, they need points and it will be tough.”
“The defeat against Leganés will be a reference point. Those games are for learning from. We don’t want to commit the same mistake,” warned the Barça boss.
“The team has taken a step forward in every sense but now we can’t think about whether our opponents are better or worse. We just have to go for the three points,” said Valverde when asked about the run of wins last week against Sevilla, Inter and Real Madrid.
Finally, on the progress of a Leo Messi who has already returned to training after breaking his arm in the win over Sevilla, Valverde said: “The most normal thing would be that he comes back gradually to training to stay fit but we have to wait as it has only been two weeks and it is still early.”
