FCBARCELONA.CAT

29.03.2010 14:22

"It’ll be important not to lose and also to score"

Vanessa Forns

Speaking to reporters after training on Monday, Seydou Keita stressed the need take something positive back from the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal in London.

With the second leg being played in the Camp Nou, the Mali international midfielder revealed that the main thing is for Barca to avoid a defeat in the Emirates Stadium: “Qualification is over two legs. We’re aware that we have another match at home. We have to do everything we can not to lose and then, if we can score, even better. If we could win, that would be perfect”.

"It’ll be an open game"

Keita has a great deal of respect for the Premier League outfit, especially as they play a pretty similar style to Barca. He knows that both teams will go for goals from the very beginning: “It’ll be an open game and very difficult against a very good team”.

The squad is ready

Barca have some vital matches coming up including the Champions League tie against Arsenal and the Spanish league classic in the Santaigo Bernabeu. According to Keita: “The squad are ready for the challenge. It’s a key part of the season. But right now we have to focus on Arsenal. Afterwards, there’ll be time to think about other matches”.

The duel with Real Madrid

However, with the match against Real Madrid getting closer and closer, questions about what could be the biggest match of the season are inevitable. Keita told reporters today that he hadn’t seen the match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at the weekend because he had the feeling that Real would win. Whilst stressing that it is a purely personal opinion, he indicated that “the opponents don’t seem to give 100% against Real Madrid but the Real Madrid players might think the same about us. If they win it’s because they’re going well, because they have some quality players”.

Stay focussed on winning

Keita declined to give his view on whether the winner of the match between Real Madrid and Barca would then go on to win the league title: “I don’t know because there’ll be a lot of matches left after that one. If we win, it will obviously be a big step forward. Last year we won everything so this year everyone wants to beat us. What we have to do is focus on winning our matches”.