“Barcelona is one of the best teams in the world. Last year we were beaten in both games,” Joselu said. “We have to go to the match with a good mentality.”
Barcelona aren’t invincible
Alaves welcome Barcelona to the Estadio Mendizorroza at a late start on Saturday night, and Josélu Mato is convinced that the Basque side can do well. Barcelona travelled to Italy mid-week to host Juventus and ended up beating the Bianconeri 2-0 thanks to goals from Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi. “Barcelona is one of the best teams in the world. Last year we were beaten in both games,” Joselu said. “We have to go to the match with a good mentality. It will be difficult, and the few chances that we have, we have to score. From the point of view of the players and economically they are solid. It will be difficult to match their level, but with work, you can make the most of it. They are not invincible, and you can win.”
“We have to be a very hard-working team and make more sacrifices than in other games; we won’t have much possession and We play at home and have to go out onto the field with a good mentality so that the fans who see us on TV will be proud of us and what we are doing.” Referring back to Barcelona’s victory over Juventus, Joselu looked optimistic at Alvaro Morata’s offside hat-trick. “All strikers are working hard, it will be another day of work in another way, with less ball control, and attempts to materialize the chances that we have will be key,” he explained. “I am sure that the coach, Pablo Machin, will have an ace up his sleeve; they are games that are analyzed a lot, and we know the difficulty of playing with speedy players up top.”
“Plus, we’ll have to cover up Lionel Messi’s winged passes, so we don’t get caught behind the back. It will be a very tough match.”