FCBARCELONA.CAT

28.09.2009 19:10

Guardiola: "Dynamo are a fine team"

Anna Segura

The Barça manager has said there is no way the team can take it easy against Shakhtar, a team he knows well, and is well aware of their potential dangers.

In his pre-match champions League press conference Josep Guardiola once again showed the utmost respect for a Barça opponent, this time Dynamo Kiev.

Dynamo, better than Shakhtar

He pointed out that Tuesday’s visitors are ahead of Shakhtar Donetsk, a side Barça have met recently both in the Champions League and the European Super Cup. "We know Shakhtar very well, and Dynamo have beaten Shakhtar. They beat them in the last league and are ahead again this time. They are a fine team with some interesting players up front ".

Ukrainian danger

Although he has yet to speak to Chygrynskiy, a man who knows Ukrainian football very well, Josep Guardiola has had a look at Dynamo Kiev: "They are very strong physically, very powerful, very tall and they work well on strategy, especially defensively ".

"We can’t let ourselves down"

Josep Guardiola spoke about how important Tuesday’s game with Dynamo Kiev is: "We can’t let ourselves down, especially in home matches. We don’t know what we’ll come up against in Russia and the Ukraine, where there will be some very low temperatures ".

And although this is still the group stage and there is some margin for error, he added that “there are far fewer options than you would have in the League ".

"We’re not favourites"

"If there is one team that’s not favourite to win the Champions league, then that’s us" said Guardiola, who is aware that no team has ever successfully defended the title. That means there is no room for relaxation, but he has every faith that his players won’t be doing that. “The team is doing fantastically well. But we do have to think about these things".

Humility in Malaga

Josep Guardiola also said that despite winning the League, Cup and Champions League last season, they have started this season “being humble and knowing we have to keep working”, and noted that the game in Malaga was one they could easily have lost if they had gone about it the wrong way. “But as we worked hard, we won" he said.