Sevilla manager Luis Garcia Plaza made no attempt to hide his concern ahead of a fiery clash at the Pizjuan. He called Barcelona under Hansi Flick a frightening side, then warned that the ease with which they dismantle opponents could raise awkward questions about the level of La Liga itself.
Champions and league leaders Barcelona visit the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan tomorrow, Saturday. The Andalusians go in with spirits high after taking 13 points from 6 matches, a run their manager said followed "a life experience of saving the team last season, which was an extremely difficult challenge".
At his pre-match press conference, Plaza could not stop praising his opponents: "Barcelona are frightening. They are an unbelievable team. They don't just win, they overwhelm."
Admiration aside, the Sevilla boss still clung to hope, pointing to his own record against the legendary Barcelona of Pep Guardiola.
"We are in a good moment, we will compete with everything we have," he said. "There are always chances to win, with our fans anything is possible, although we must be perfect to have any chance. Guardiola's Barcelona scored five goals against me, but I also beat him once."
Plaza then drew an intriguing comparison between the Barcelona of the past and today's version, spelling out the difference in the Catalan brand of terror.
"With Pep's team you couldn't touch the ball," he added, "but these ones," in reference to Flick's side, "create a lot of scoring chances."
His words did not stop at this match. The Sevilla manager fired a veiled message at the entire Spanish league: "If they arrive and beat us easily, we will have to see what they do to beat everyone. If we are not able to be close, we will have to ask about the true level of that team."
Citing an earlier remark from Cesc Fabregas, he concluded: "As Fabregas said before, they are frightening, they score four or five goals in a single match."
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"We will try to compete with them," he finished, "and I also say that if they come here and we are not able to compete with them, then the level of the competition will have to be questioned when a team wins everything and with all these big results, even against good teams."