Mendilibar: We'll be looking to have a lot of the ball in Barcelona's half
The Eibar boss has a maximum of 17 of his squad available to him
SD Eibar coach José Luis Mendilibar today insisted that the Armeros will "be looking to have a lot of the ball in Barcelona's half" when the sides clash at Ipurua on Sunday (20:45).
Mendilibar will have a maximum of 17 members of his squad available to him (if Nano is ultimately passed fit), whilst he's also set to draft in a goalkeeper from the feeder team. The following players all miss out through injury Asier Riesgo, Iván Ramis, Anaitz Arbilla, David Juncà and Kike García.
The Armeros' coach is hopeful that Arbilla will be fit for next week, whilst Ramis is set to return to the fray during the course of the following week. Elsewhere, Juncà and Kike García are expected to be available within two weeks and Riesgo will be back in contention in three weeks' time. In view of the players working their way back to fitness, Mendilibar quipped, "They'll be our January transfer window signings, we don't want any more".
When asked about Sunday's opponents, the Eibar boss insisted that, "Barça are the best in the business amongst the sides that play their style of football". "They're now getting back in the groove again, but an out-of-sorts Barça are still capable of putting five past you. They're a fine side that play their own brand of football and they've got some great players. They'll kill you if make any mistakes".
"When you come up against Barça you've got two options. You can either go out and put them under pressure or hang back and wait for them in your own box; we'll be going with the first option. I don't want us to go and get the ball off Barcelona, that would be virtually impossible. What I want us to do is to have a lot of the ball in Barcelona's half. That'll also be very difficult because you go out to press them and one of their players goes past four yours and that strikes fear into you. We'll need to be strong and brave. If we do that, we'll compete with them".
"We wouldn't be Eibar if we were winning against Sporting, Granada, Depor and then also beat Barcelona, Madrid and Villarreal, we'd be Bayern (Munich). We need to try and win everywhere we go and compete against anyone, but we've got our limits".
In reference to last night's 3-0 reverse in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals against Atlético Madrid, Mendilibar declared that, "They capitalised on our mistakes". "Atlético create few chances, but they make the most of the ones they do get".