FCBARCELONA.CAT

25.02.2010 17:39

“It’s much harder after winning six titles”

Jordi Clos

Touré Yaya has spoken about how extraordinarily hard it is for the team to follow such a marvellous 2009. “Everybody thinks we’re unbeatable, and that’s not true” he said.

Barça are sometimes struggling to reproduce the all-conquering football that stunned the world last year, and after drawing away to Stuttgart and returning to work on Thursday, Touré Yaya spoke about the situation to the media. “It’s much harder after winning six titles”, he said, before adding that “we can’t make any mistakes any more. Everybody thinks we’re unbeatable, and that’s not true. We are human and teams are fired up when they play us”.

Difficult to match

Touré went on to comment that “there are so many games, and after what happened last year, it’s not easy … there are difficult times in sport, and this is one of them … We don’t just have to think about beating Malaga and Stuttgart. We have to be at one hundred per cent and play easy, delicate football. But we are well prepared and focused on our objectives … however, both the League and Champions League are going to be very hard this time round”.

Malaga is the next challenge, on whom he said “it will be difficult because they are a good team. We can’t waste this chance at home because we need three points to stay on top of the table.”

Alves and Henry

Dani Alves has missed the last few games through injury, but could be back against the Andalusians. Touré Yaya welcomes the potential return of the Brazilian defender because “he is a very important player, a machine that is always ready to run. I hope he gets fit soon and to be able help us”. Thierry Henry got back to his goalscoring form against Racing and on him the Ivorian said “he looks fine to me. He is a true professional, and is regaining confidence. He is working hard in training”.