Garitano: "We must be the best version of ourselves to win in Barcelona"

'We're going to play against a great team in a difficult place to win and the idea is to continue competing well. We aren't here to lose any game or make it easy for anyone and that's how we're going to go to Barcelona,' stated Gaizka Garitano at the pre-Barça press conference. The UD Almería head coach recognised: 'The other day we lost the opportunity to get the first victory,' but he also assured: 'We've competed on pitches where it's very difficult to win, we're going to go all out to obtain a good result with courage and desire to compete' in addition, he warned: 'If we don't give one hundred percent, they can hurt us.' 

The Basque Country native is well aware that FC Barcelona 'are one of the best teams in the world. For them, not winning LaLiga or the UEFA Champions League is to be in a bad situation. They create a lot of chances, they always score goals and you depend a lot on whether they're more successful or less. To win there, we must be the best version of ourselves.'

The man in the driving seat of the UD Almería first team wants to take the positives and build on them. 'We're starting to be more solid, we kept a clean sheet against Betis and we conceded at the beginning of the game against Atlético de Madrid, but then we remained solid. We've been conceding fewer goals in recent days and from there, we have to grow. In those two games we were great with the ball, being brave and playing well,' he highlighted. 

Regarding FC Barcelona, the Bilbao-born stressed: 'We know that we're going to have to spend some time defending because you spend a lot of time without the ball. Whatever you do, it always happens like this.' Despite this, Mr Garitano knows what the team has to do to get something positive: 'It's all about being a little more daring and trying to play better because we can do it as we've shown... being a little more precise with the ball, avoid losing the ball and adding a little more fluidity to our game. When we have the ball, we must be a little more daring, that's the idea for tomorrow.'

'On those pitches, we need to be solid for the first 15 or 20 minutes. On the fixture against Atlético de Madrid, we weren't solid enough and we lost the game in the first minutes, because then, although we were good, if you are trailing by two goals, it's very difficult to come back from behind in those venues. It's important to prevent their combination play while building up from the back from the off and hold on strong for the first 20/25 minutes to be fully involved in the game since they always start very strong and what happens in those first moments of the match, then greatly determines the rest.'

'It's essential to go out and compete giving it our all,' the UD Almería head coach concluded.