Ernesto Valverde reassures Inter about Barcelona’s intentions on the final day of the group stage in an interview at the press conference before the Champions League match against Tottenham:
“We are expecting a tough match against Tottenham because they are very strong physically and tactically and they are playing for qualification, we will go on the field to win, as we always do. We are already qualified because of our previous results. It is the same situation as last year, when Sporting Lisbon were playing for qualification but we won anyway, so we will play for the win by respecting how strong the opponent is. We respect the competition and the other teams involved.
“It’s true that tomorrow there will be some changes, because we are already qualified and we will give some rest after Saturday’s match. I know that Tottenham rested some players, like Harry Kane at the weekend. We have players with some problems like Luis Suarez and having two games within three days it is clear that I have no intention to force him and aggravate his knee problems. Within 24 hours you will know whether Messi will play. Inter should not be afraid of anything but if they had beaten Tottenham they would not be in this situation now.
“Our intention is still to win, no question about it. I hope I have Arthur available because the other day I did not want to call him as we were waiting for a tough match against Espanyol. We will evaluate him in training but we think that Vermaelen is able to play, we have already tried him in the Cup game.
“We want to win because we want to continue our unbeaten home record in this competition. We respect Tottenham and Inter, but we will go out there to do our job and go for the win. We love the Champions League and the advantage is a consequence of our good results.”
