Barcelona is once again preparing for another crucial encounter in the battle for the league title in Spain. Ronald Koeman’s team will play an away game on Sunday afternoon against the always difficult Villarreal, which is currently seventh and is still in the fight to participate in the Europa League. Barcelona knows that the double will be a fact when the remaining seven games in the Spanish league are won, including the home game with leader Atlético Madrid.
“An interesting game”, said Koeman ahead of the meeting with Villarreal, which qualified for the semi-finals of the Europa League earlier this month. “It is a team that plays very well football and has players at the forefront with many qualities. They have shown this in both Europe and Spain. A final? We have seven more games to play. Every game is important, also for the other three. The most important thing is to win. If you don’t win, you have less chance of winning the league title. That makes sense.”
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“I don’t think this will be a more difficult away game than other matches that are yet to come”, the Dutchman emphasized. “There are still a lot of teams that play for something and very few clubs for whom nothing is at stake anymore. That is why this will be an interesting duel in any case. Any title contender can win any of their remaining duels, not just Barcelona. You can hardly afford a mistake anymore. I don’t know if another team will become champions if they win all matches, but at least we will have to take a lot of points to become champions. ”
Koeman does not see Barcelona as a favorite for the league title. “Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Sevilla also win many matches. The advantage over Atlético is that they are still coming to the Camp Nou and that we can beat them, but that also applies to them. I don’t actually see a favorite. It will be exciting until the last day of play. ”
Only the last two days of LaLiga will be played simultaneously. Until May 16, the title candidates will therefore know sooner or later what the competitors have done. That’s all the same for Koeman. “If you play first and don’t win, the competitors will know what you’ve done. But it does not matter to me. If the competitors win first, you must win too. But winning is always a must for a club like Barcelona anyway. ”
Koeman also received a question about the collaboration with Alfred Schreuder, who after almost a complete season is still a great unknown to the Spanish media. “The technical staff, including Alfred, work very well with each other,” responded the former national coach of the Dutch national team. “It’s a new staff. I had never worked with Alfred, Henke Larsson, Albert Roca or goalkeeper coach José Ramon de la Fuente before. Alfred is Dutch and the Dutch love offensive football. He has worked at various clubs, including Ajax. ”
“At Ajax he worked with Erik ten Hag, who has similar game ideas to Barcelona. He has learned a lot from Julian Nagelsmann and he applies their ideas. We complement each other. Then we make decisions. ” Naturally, a question about the continuity of Koeman could not be missed. “The chairman has shown his support and confidence several times. Basically I see myself as the coach of Barcelona for next season. If not, then we’ll have to talk. ”
Atlético Madrid will visit Athletic Club on Sunday, while Real Madrid will receive subtopper Real Betis on Saturday. The Sevilla of Luuk de Jong and Karim Rekik travels to Granada on Sunday, which reached the quarter finals of the Europa League