Sergio Conceicao is suspicious of Barcelona’s ‘less positive results’

Coach Sérgio Conceição considered this Monday that only Porto, on a “great evening,” can win Tuesday’s visit to Barcelona in the fifth round of Group H of the Champions League.

“A good result would be a win without a doubt, but we will need a great night to achieve that against a team like Barcelona.” Everyone knows that, regardless of the team’s moment, in games of such a high level, the players are full of enthusiasm. and motivated. They have a team of excellent players in all sectors. We will need a great night to win here,” the coach confirmed at a press conference.

Barcelona and Porto lead the group with nine points from a possible 12, followed by Ukraine’s Shakhtar with six, while Belgium’s Antwerp are yet to score.

“The two clubs with the most appearances will face each other in the biggest club tournament in the world, which says something about their history and weight in the face of pseudo-crises. They have players who, in less good moments, give something away.” more. I’m always suspicious of less positive results,” said the Portuguese coach.

Conceicao commented on a perceived weaker phase for the Catalans, who lost 1-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk and also lost 1-2 at home to arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish league with a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano. the ultimate challenge.

“We expect a very strong Barcelona, ​​regardless of the team on the field. They are missing one or two players, but so are we. I expect a very competitive game,” he insisted, believing that either team feels “positive pressure” inherent in playing in competitions of this size, along with the challenges in domestic leagues.

The Blaugrana coach does not yet know whether he will have defenders Pepe and Zaidou, who were called up despite physical limitations, but he is confident that the test will have “different moments” and that it will be “different”. ” from what was played at the Dragao Stadium, where the Portuguese dominated in various statistics, however, they were defeated 1-0 due to an error that was exploited by the opponent.

“It will depend on how we look at them and what we do on the field based on our characteristics. It will depend on what we want, which is to compete, to look at the game with focus, concentration, without looking at the classification.” Distraction could be fatal for us, and we don’t want that,” he stressed.

Despite acknowledging Gavi’s “importance in Spain’s move”, he knows the most important thing will be to see what impact his absence could have on the Barcelona team – the young midfielder seriously injured his knee while playing for Spain and he will be sidelined for several months.

The coach praised Nico Gonzalez, the Porto midfielder hired from their now Catalan rivals, assuring him that he “has high quality” and suggesting that he has not played as much as he is going through a “normal adaptation period”: “Come from FC Barcelona or Real Madrid are not ready to play for Porto.

If they achieve a better result than Shakhtar Donetsk when they face Antwerp, Porto could secure their 14th qualification for the next stage of the million-dollar competition.

Tuesday’s match at the Montjuic Olympic Stadium will be officiated by Italian Daniele Orsato, starting at 20:00 (Lisbon time).