Adriano does not care about Real crisis
Barcelona full-back Adriano does not wish to pay much attention to Real Madrid's internal crisis and believes their arch-rivals will give it their all on Wednesday.
By FOX SPORTS Staff
The two sides are set to face one another in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu in the mid-week fixture. Both are in good form and registered impressive victories in the weekend with the Catalans demolishing Osasuna 5-1 while Real romped to a 4-0 win against Getafe.
Adriano, though, was not entirely happy with his team's defensive performance and called for greater concentration in future games.
Furthermore, he rubbished talk that Madrid, who are said to be having an internal power struggle between the coach and the players, would be distracted ahead of Wednesday's cup tie.
"We shouldn't pay attention to the controversy, we just need to focus on playing and scoring more goals that our opponents," he told the club website.
"The Clásicos are very tense matches and the team that's better on the day usually wins, I really don't care about how the teams are coming into Wednesday's game.
"We have to pay more attention to counterattacks and set pieces, it's very important to concede very few goals."
Fellow defender Javier Mascherano agreed with the assessment and does not feel that the absence of Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas will play a significant part.
“It doesn’t matter how teams come into these matches, we’re aware that we're going up against a great Real Madrid [team]," he said.
"They’ll go all out despite the fact that they’ll be missing important players.”
Meanwhile, assistant coach Jordi Roura paid tribute to the talented Lionel Messi who scored four of Barcelona's five goals. The Argentinean also crossed the 200-goal mark in the La Liga in the game.
"When you’re with him every day the point comes when these things seem normal. But when you stop and reflect on what has been done you simply bring your hands to your head [in amazement]," Roura commented.
"It seems like he has no limits."
The match was held at the Camp Nou and the fans also gave a standing ovation as a mark of respect for Victor Valdes who recently announced his intention to quit the club in the summer.