War of Words Precedes El Clasico Clash
With a very tense and absorbing fixture in prospect at the Nou Camp on Tuesday evening, leading figures from both camps in the forthcoming El Clasico grudge match have been offering their opinion, ahead of the Copa del Rey semi-final.
Lionel Messi has called for Barcelona to make a big improvement over recent fixtures, stating that Barca needed to “pull themselves together”. Such are the high standards that the footballing representatives of the Catalonian people set themselves that a victory over Sevilla was still considered sub-par by Messi, and he urged his team-mates to return to their sharpest and best form ahead of the big and critical challenges that lay ahead of them in the coming weeks. At least Barca can comfort themselves with the fact that they are virtual certainties to pick up the La Liga trophy come the end of the season.
Meanwhile, ahead of this fixture that will decide whether his team’s domestic season is a total write-off, Jose Mourinho predictably had something to say.
The Portugese manager gave the Barcelona team some rather back-handed and insincere compliments during his press conference, which perhaps implied that the Barca hierarchy had been talking about refereeing decisions and appointments rather too much in the build-up to the game, and perhaps weren’t as innocent in their on-field conduct as they like to appear.
On the whole, it should be another fascinating night in Barcelona.
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