Rubi: ‘We have to play a perfect match to stand a chance of winning against Barça’
The UD Almeria head coach does not want his team to be sluggish in this Saturday's testy encounter at the Spotify Camp Nou Stadium
‘In order to stand a chance of winning and obtaining a positive result against Barça, we have to play a perfect game,’ explained UD Almeria head coach Rubi at the pre-Barcelona presser. The head coach commented ‘the match looks a little bit different from what it seemed 24 hours ago,’ with regard to Azulgrana Piqué's farewell, and added ‘we have to get away with taking the ball and avoid being sluggish on the pitch. If we put in a good performance, our footballers will become more popular, since millions of viewers will watch it for that reason and the stadium will actually be jam-packed.’
FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has announced he will retire after Barcelona's La Liga game against UD Almeria on Saturday and Rubi spoke about his professional relationship with him: 'He treated me kindly over the time I spent there. He’s unquestionably been an excellent player. I wish him well.’
The UD Almería gaffer recognises ‘today we’re the worst team with the worst away form, but luckily, the table that counts is the 12 Matchdays. We've had a congested calendar of fixtures and if we can't win away to Barça, we'll try to do so in Cádiz.’ But Rubi trusts his team and also pointed out ‘many times, we use as an example what Rayo Vallecano did in Barcelona or Girona FC in Madrid. The player has to walk out onto the pitch deeply convinced that it can be that day. The statistics are usually favourable to them, but someday it won’t be as might be expected. Let's see if it's our turn.’
The Vilassar de Mar-born stressed: ‘FC Barcelona are the best in the league on home turf, with 15 goals for and none against. They attack in 1,500 different ways… their power is absolute.’
The UD Almería first team relies on his side's progressive improvement in the competition; strong at home and improving away in recent days. Competing as they did against Villarreal FC will be essential to have aspirations, although improving some aspects, as he mentioned.
Rubi made it clear ‘the idea isn’t to lose possession of the ball; We have to find our moments to attack. With the ball we always feel comfortable, but it’s true that we play against rivals who don’t stop pressing. All this means that we need to have the ability to escape the pressure and look for spaces to go on the attack quickly and put the game into the opponents’ half.’
The man in the driving seat of FC Barcelona praised UD Almería’s head coach and Rubi replied to that message at a pre-match press conference ‘I thank Xavi Hernandez for his words, he’s and will be for a long time the ideal head coach for Barça. It’s a compliment that he says what he’s said about UD Almería.’
