Survival of euro more important than clasico, says Guardiola

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has played down this weekend's 'clasico' match at Real Madrid by saying a European Union summit meeting on Friday and moves to save the Euro were much more significant.

The Champions League holders host Belarusian minnows BATE Borisov in their final Group H match on Tuesday with first place and qualification to the last 16 already assured.

On the horizon is Saturday's top-of-the-table La Liga clash at the Bernabeu.

Barca will be under pressure to ensure Real do not increase their three-point lead with a game in hand, but Guardiola was coy when asked about the 'clasico's' significance in the title race.

"What's more important is that on the ninth of December(Germany chancellor Angela) Merkel and (France president Nicolas) Sarkozy save the Euro," Guardiola told reporters with a smile on Monday.

"That's what is important this week, not the derby.

"More important than the tactics will be our mentality going into the match. Against a rival as strong as Madrid a win strengthens you, but there is still a long way to go in the league.

"If it was a knockout situation it would be more important, but there is still a long way to go."

Barcelona also have an eye on next week's Club World Cup in Japan, and Guardiola will look to squad players and his youth ranks to play against BATE, who need a surprise win to have a chance of qualifying for the Europa League.

"I want them to be bold, not to play under pressure, to show off all their talent and not be afraid of anything," he added. "They just have to play and enjoy it."

European leaders are under pressure to come up with a credible plan to lead the region out of its debt crisis at the European Union summit meeting on Friday.

Xavi: "Winning at the Bernabéu would be a turning point"

The Barça midfielder believes that "it's always nice to win at the Bernabéu and even more so looking at how the league is going"

Xavi, who’ll be playing in his 13th “El Clásico” in the League, away to Madrid, thinks that Madrid are "better" than in recent years. 

If one Barça player knows what it's like to play in a clásico it's Xavi Hernandez. On Saturday Xavi could play his 13th league match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, and he would like the game to be "open, with both teams going for it, where one can see the potential of both teams". Although they're going to Madrid three points behind  Mourinho's team,  and with a game more than them, Xavi said that "means nothing as far as this game is concerned......the clásicos have nothing to do with the table, nor how either team are doing. Anything can happen".
Winning at Madrid is "a pleasure"

Xavi is aware that whatever happens on Saturday at the Bernabeu, the League title will not be decided. However, he knows that a win in Madrid would be important. "It's always nice to win at the Bernabeu and even more so looking at the table. It would be a turning point for us". He stressed that "to go and win at the Bernabeu is a footballing pleasure".
Lets just talk about football
One of the things that Xavi wants, once the clásico is over, is that only the football is talked about, and not any controversial incidents like in recent games against Madrid. Xavi, who thinks that of the last three or four years "this is the clásico that we're coming to in our best form", he thinks the game will be "very physical" but if "we impose our philosophy on the pitch we have much to gain".
On whether Barça will play with a three or four man defence, Xavi said "we played with three defenders in Milan and it went very well. It's a system that when you have the ball you have more players forward, but when you don't, you leave spaces at the back. Everything depends on having the ball". So, the midfielder doesn't discount this option at the Bernabeu. "It's possible, with the players that we currently have".
The squad, guarantee for the future
Xavi was able to enjoy the great team display on Tuesday against BATE, with a Barça team full of young reserve team players. The midfielder said: "They enjoyed themselves, and so did we. It's great that we have such a squad and that the manager is not afraid to play them". This means, according to Xavi, that "it's a guarantee of the good health that Barça is in today". He added that "Barça has a great future and there are lots of youngsters ready to compete for places in the first team".
Happy to be a finalist for the Golden Ball
For the third consecutive year Xavi Hernandez is one of the three finalists to win the FIFA Golden Ball. Xavi is "very pleased and happy to be nominated. It gives me great pride". He's not losing any sleep that he'll end his career without ever having won this award, despite being nominated in more than one occasion. "I'm just proud to be there. It will always stay with me, and is something I'd never dreamed of as a child. Then, my goal was to make my way in football, play for Barça, and play international football, "he concluded.

Real and Barca warm up in style for Clasico

Real Madrid's Argentinian striker Angel di Maria Angel Di Maria inspired Real Madrid to a 3-0 win at Sporting Gijon and Cesc Fabregas scored twice in Barcelona's 5-0 drubbing of Levante on Saturday as the two rivals warmed up in style for next weekend's 'Clasico'.

Real eased to a 10th consecutive league victory, and their 14th in a row in all competitions, to cement their three-point lead over second-placed Barca who have played one game more than Jose Mourinho's side.

Champions Barca have stuttered on their travels but they maintained their superb home form against this season's surprise packages Levante, taking their record at the Nou Camp to eight wins and one draw with 39 goals scored and none conceded.

Real have 37 points from 14 matches. Valencia are third, four points behind Barca with a game in hand after captain Roberto Soldado came off the bench to score the winner in a 2-1 victory at home to Espanyol.

Levante are four points further back in fourth.

Mourinho praised his players for their solidity in defence and efficiency in attack but was reluctant to discuss the crunch game against Barca before Real's Champions League match at Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday.

"The team is winning and we are playing well," said the Portuguese who is bidding to end his former club Barca's three-year grip on the Spanish title.

"We are winning because of our quality, the spirit of the players and our ability on the counter attack," Mourinho told reporters.



SPECTACULAR MATCH

Argentina winger Di Maria opened the scoring in the 35th minute at the Molinon when he robbed a defender, surged into the penalty area and surprised goalkeeper Juan Pablo at his near post with a swerving low shot from an acute angle.

Joint La Liga top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo added the second in the 65th, the Portuguese forward's 17th league goal of the season, before Brazil fullback Marcelo made it 3-0 in added time after exchanging passes with France striker Karim Benzema.

Gijon, who finished with 10 men after Sebastian Eguren was shown a second yellow card in the 80th minute, are 19th with 12 points and will go bottom if Real Zaragoza win at Granada on Sunday.

Barca's 4-0 win over Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday was a game brought forward because of their participation in the Club World Cup in Japan later this month and Pep Guardiola's side produced another dominant display against Levante whose annual budget is less than 1/20th of the top two Spanish teams.

Former Arsenal captain Fabregas put the home side 2-0 ahead with a low shot and a header before promising B-team player Isaac Cuenca made it 3-0 after 37 minutes.

World Player of the Year Lionel Messi struck a fourth in the 55th minute, putting the Argentina forward level with Ronaldo on 17 league goals, and Chile forward Alexis Sanchez added the fifth just after the hour.

"The feeling (about the 'Clasico') is very positive," said Barca defender Javier Mascherano. "It's going to be a spectacular match and the whole world is watching and waiting.

"We are playing a great rival who we have faced many times and we have our weapons."

The clásico could be Xavi's 600th game for Barça

The midfielder made his debut for the first team and scored his first goal on August 18, 1998, during the the Spanish Super Cup in Mallorca.

Since then he’s played in 397 League matches, 121 Champions League matches, 13 UEFA Cup matches, 10 Spanish Super Cups matches, 3 European Super Cups matches, and 4 Club World Cup matches

Xavi holds the record for most games played for the Club and most titles won (18)  

During the post-training press conference Xavi Hernández said that “going to Madrid and winning is a pleasure.” Beyond the “footballing pleasure” that is winning at the Bernabéu, Barça’s master midfielder is about to cross an important threshold in this career: if he plays in what would be his 13th clásico, he will reach 600 official games with FC Barcelona.

This is Xavi’s 14th season with Barça. He made his debut in the Spanish Super Cup in 1998 thanks to Louis van Gaal, since then he’s been a permanent fixture in Barça’s midfield with Serra Ferrer, Antic, Rexach, Rijkaard and Guardiola. Barça’s vice-captain reached 300 official games as an Azulgrana player when he was 25 years old. Now, at 31, he’s about to reach 600.

63 scored goals

Barça's first team players support the Japanese people

Barça will arrive in Japan next week to play for the FIFA Club World Cup. Even though the team will be vying for the title, Barça will also bring a message of support to the Japanese people. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc and Dani Alves recorded a video to support the people affected by the earthquake that devastated Japan in March. In the video, recorded in Japanese, the players show their solidarity with the Asian country and explain that Barça “supports all the Japanese people.”

FC Barcelona, with a FCB Escola in Fukuola and a total of 1,470 Japanese socios (Club members) - the second country with the most socios-, showed its sensitivity to the Japanese people when the country suffered the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that tragically left many wounded and dead in its wake.

Pep: “It is always hard to beat Sporting”

Marc Guillén

Having analysed Sunday’s game in depth, Guardiola is aware that Sporting is one of the teams his Barça finds hardest to beat. He has a lot of respect for the team and the fans at El Molinón and is not overly concerned about injury issues.

“I am worried about particular things, but not the recent succession of muscle injuries. There are always injuries in football and there always will be”, said Guardiola, who does not feel Cesc’s hamstring injury has anything to do with the other injuries suffered by the team.

Strong Sporting defence
The first time Guardiola faced Sporting as a manger, his side won 6-1, but it has not always been so easy to break down Preciado’s teams. “It is one of the games we have found the hardest and the scores have always been close. We always find it hard to beat Sporting because they defend very well and have an intense ground where the fans help them a lot. But we even find it hard to beat them when we’re at home”.

This has not been a great season so far for the Asturians, but Guardiola doesn’t think his counterpart’s job is on the line. “They won’t sack him. If anybody has done things for that team, it’s him. He’s saved them every year and they’ve been in some very difficult situations. He always pulls it off and this year will be no exception.”

Cesc out
Guardiola admits that it’s always a setback to lose players to injury, but knows that is all part of football. Describing what happened to Cesc, he said “he was going in for a cross and overstretched himself, he scored the goal but got hurt. But luckily it’s not too serious and he’ll be back once the international break is over”.

He added that Cesc usually takes exceptionally good care of himself and works hard on injury prevention, but that all the same, these things can happen. He doesn’t think there are any more injury worries at the moment than there were this time last season.

Puyol and Alexis
Carles Puyol is back in the side after taking a nasty knock in Minsk, while he insisted that although Alexis has been given permission to return to Chile to recover from his injury, that does not imply that he can play for his country. “At first it was important for him to be here, but at the current stage of his recovery he can go to be with his family and one of the club’s physios is travelling with him. He has permission to go to Chile but not to play for the national team”.

Adriano warns of El Molinón danger

Roger Bogunyà

The Brazilian has not forgotten FC Barcelona’s last two games in Gijón, which ended in a one-goal win for FCB and a draw. “We suffered there last year” he remembered.

Two years ago, only a Pedro goal split the sides in Gijón, and last season a late Villa snatched a draw when defeat was looming at El Molinón. These are two good warnings for Sunday’s return to Asturias. Adriano Correia remembered that “we suffered there last year and struggled to win two years ago. It is a key game, because it comes just before the international break”.

Comfortable in any position
Adriano is a versatile player and Josep Guardiola has used him in several different positions. This season, he started at left back to cover for several injuries in defence, and then played on the right of midfield at Mestalla. But “whether we play 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 it makes no difference to me, I can play further back or further forward. We saw that in Valencia”.

5-0 win a confidence boost
The win in Minsk was the first on the road this season, and Adriano feels “winning 5-0 gives us more confidence. We have had some tough away games and have only drawn until now. We created a lot of chances against Real Sociedad but didn’t get goals like we did on Wednesday.” He also added that the team cannot afford to let the intensity drop in any games no matter what the score.

Praise for Messi and Puyol
On his team mate Leo Messi, Adriano Correia agrees that he is the best player in the world. “It is a privilege to play alongside him. There is nobody quite like him today. He is above everyone else.” Adriano is convinced that he will beat Cesar’s record this season and become the highest goalscorer in FC Barcelona history, a feat he is now just 41 shy of achieving.

Adriano ended his press conference with some words for Carles Puyol: “He is a captain who has a lot of force in this team. He motivates us and is a great team mate. He gives us life”.