Real Betis manager on Barcelona’s situation: “If we think we are playing against a Barça in crisis, we are wrong”

Barcelona await a tough test in La Liga tomorrow night as they visit Estadio Benito Villamarin to take on Real Betis.

The Blaugrana head into the game on the back of a morale-boosting 3-1 win over Unionistas de Salamanca in the Copa del Rey, right after being mauled 4-1 by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.

The performances of Xavi Hernandez’s men over the past few weeks have come under the scanner and there is an air of pessimism and nervousness around the club, with Barça currently sitting fourth in La Liga.

Barcelona not in crisis, says Pellegrini

However, speaking in a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game, Real Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini has claimed that Barcelona are not in a crisis and thinking so would be wrong.

“For teams like Barcelona, doubts are generated with just one setback. They have performed well in other competitions apart from the Super Cup and are in contention for the top places in the standings,” he said, urging everyone to not count Barça out in La Liga.

“They are a few points behind the leaders, but there are still 54 points to play for. They still have some way to go to try to come back. If we think we are going to play against a Barça in crisis we are wrong,” the Real Betis boss added.

Pellegrini then went on to add that they expect a difficult match tomorrow against Xavi’s men, saying:

“They have a lot of variants and we expect a tough opponent, as always happens with Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Atletico Madrid.”

Notable absentees for Real Betis

Heading into the game, Real Betis will be without as many as twelve important players due to injuries and the Africa Cup of Nations. Lamenting the number of absentees, Pellegrini said:

“We have a lot of players who are not going to be able to participate. We don’t have the players from the Africa Cup, Bravo, Guido Rodríguez, Carvalho, Guardado, Marc Bartra… there are eight or nine important absentees. Bellerín will be integrated with us.”

Source: Mundo Deportivo