FCBARCELONA.CAT

18.05.2007 14:41

Oleguer “This is no time to feel sorry for ourselves”

Berta Brau

The Barça defender feels any major analysis should be left to the end of the season and that “for now we should look to the future and give it everything.

Oleguer Presas knows just how important this Sunday’s game at Atlético Madrid is going to be, but despite a few recent setbacks, he does not feel that his team is up against the ropes. “We knew we had to win all our games and we still know that” he said. “What we need to do now is treat all our games as if they were finals”.

No team problems

The fact that the team has so few injury concerns is a major bonus, and mentally they are also strong. Neither does Oleguer feel that Barça’s poor results in recent years against Atlético should affect them negatively. His team should soak up the pressure and turn it to their advantage by “not looking back and going out to play with as much motivation as possible”

Act of faith?

Do the fans still have cause to believe in their team’s chances this year? Oleguer is clear on that one, saying it is more of “an act of confidence than one of faith. The players are confident of our chances, and if we didn’t feel that way, that would be giving up.” In a direct address to the fans, he said “we have our chances, there are four games left and a lot of things could happen. We will be giving the best of ourselves, and the help and support of the fans are essential at times like this.” As Oleguer says, Barça have overcome plenty of difficult situations in the past, and there is no reason therefore why they can’t overcome this one too.

Rumours from Madrid

There are stories that Atlético Madrid might throw the game on Sunday in order to complicate their cross-city rival Real Madrid’s league title chances. It has also been suggested that they may have been bribed to lose. But Oleguer is confident that these are just ugly rumours stirred up by gossip, and that “any professional team is looking to win, nobody wants to lose.”

Asked more generally about such situations, the Catalan defender said that he is obviously opposed to anybody being offered money to lose matches but that “if it is to win, I don’t see any problem.”