Fermin Lopez pulled no punches ahead of Barcelona's eagerly anticipated clash with Atletico Madrid. The midfielder's message was blunt: Atletico did us serious damage, and now we have to control the finest details, play our way, and win there to end the season top.
Fermin Lopez (23) reached his 150th appearance for Barcelona last Tuesday against Aston Villa (3-0) in the Champions League, one of the most important milestones of the season. Now comes Atletico Madrid, and a shot at revenge for last season. It will also be his 100th LaLiga match.
Speaking to the newspaper "Mundo Deportivo", in an interview that runs in full on Saturday across its digital and print editions, the Campillo-born player made clear he and his team-mates are longing for payback.
Not an ordinary match
Atletico knocked Barcelona out of the Copa del Rey last year, leading 4-0 at half-time, and then dumped them out of the Champions League too. Asked whether Sunday's rematch is one he truly relishes, Fermin said: "We're not overly excited. In the end, it's just another match, but we know it's important, because they beat us last season and knocked us out twice."
"We know they are a great team, and they will make the match very difficult for us," he added. "We have to take full control of all the details, play in our usual style, and hopefully win there, because that win will be very important for us to qualify for first place."
The lesson of last season
Did Barcelona study the moments Atletico kept slicing through their defence? "Every team has its own style, and last year they managed to understand our style to some extent and did us great damage," he affirmed.
"I think we're performing well this year, especially in the last match (Aston Villa), where the defence was excellent," he noted. "These are things we can improve, but we may not be at our best and that will affect us. Despite that, we try to control as much as possible, whether in the forwards' press or on the defenders, and we strive hard to control everything the coach asks of us in order to reduce their strengths and play in our own style."
The memory of the split lip
Fermin's last trip to the Metropolitano ended early. He left with a split lip and couldn't finish the match, with a Champions League semi-final slipping from his grasp. Was it one of the hardest moments of his Barcelona career? "Yes, along with the Inter match, that game was also difficult, between the pain of the injury that required surgical stitches and was very painful, and especially because we were knocked out of the competition," he replied.
"What hurt me more was that, and thinking that if that ball had gone into the goal (your shot that struck Musso), the match might have been different," he continued. "You start thinking about a lot of things, it wasn't a good moment, but you learn from everything."