Tomorrow’s Valencia-Barcelona Spanish Cup semi-final is something of a formality due to rampant Barca having crushed Gary Neville’s troubled team 7-0 in a memorable first leg last week.
“We will go to Valencia with the aim of winning, as we always do,” Barca coach Luis Enrique said yesterday. “Everyone is saying that the tie is already decided, but in football I have learned that you really can’t take anything for granted.”
Luis Enrique—who celebrated his 100th match in charge with a 2-0 win at Levante Sunday—is likely to rest his weary regulars and put out a reserve-packed team.
This will mean a rare start for the likes of Marc Bartra, Thomas Vermaelen, Adriano, Arda Turan, Sandro and Munir.
Luis Enrique’s team have won their last 10 games in all competitions, and have equalled the club record of 28 matches unbeaten. “These are wonderful statistics, but the important thing is to win trophies,” the taciturn coach said.
In contrast, Valencia’s recent statistics are far from wonderful.  They have gone 12 league games without a win, picking up just seven points in the process.
Embattled coach Gary Neville said he was not going to resign after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Real Betis, which left Los Ches in 13th place.
“This is a time when we have to stick together...When I took over here (in December), I said that I wanted to be judged after five months, not after five weeks.”
Neville is keen for an encouraging display tomorrow, which would allow him to bow out of the Cup with dignity.
The other semi-final, which will be played on Thursday, is almost as settled as the Barca-Valencia tie, after Sevilla hammered Celta Vigo 4-0 in the first leg.
Celta could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday, a result which gives the Celta fans little optimism about a miracle on Thursday.
“We know full well that it is going to be very difficult,” Celta defender Sergi Gomez said.
“But strange things can happen in football. If we score an early goal, who is to say what might happen?”
Sevilla coach Unai Emery is likely to put out a reserve-packed side given that his team has a difficult schedule coming up, what with Liga matches and Europa League clashes around the corner.
“Celta are a good team and they will surely create a lot of problems for us Thursday,” Sevilla coach Unai Emery said.
“We will not commit the mistake of just sitting back and living off our 4-0 lead, that would be very silly. We will try to attack from the very start because we are an ambitious team.”