Luis Enrique demands Barca players focus on Deportivo

Andy West 04:17 12/12/2015
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  • No distractions: Luis Enrique.

    Luis Enrique has warned his Barcelona players to cast thoughts of the Club World Cup out of their minds and focus on Saturday’s league clash with in-form Deportivo La Coruna.

    The meeting at the Nou Camp is the Blaugrana’s last game before they head to Japan in a bid to land their fifth trophy of the calendar year, starting with Thursday’s semi-final against Club America of Mexico or China’s AFC Champions League winners Guangzhou Evergrande.

    But Enrique is anxious to ensure they take care of domestic matters first, with Deportivo presenting a considerable challenge as the last visiting team to leave the Nou Camp with any points.

    Depor famously avoided relegation on the final day of last season by snatching a 2-2 draw against Barca, and Enrique has been impressed by their progress.

    The Galician club are sixth after losing just one of their last 11 games, and Enrique smiled: “A lot of people are already thinking about Japan and the Club World Cup, including my family!

    “But I’m here to say that we have another game before then, against a team that I really like. We have to treat the game with a lot of caution.”

    With second and third-placed Atletico and Real facing testing games against Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal on Sunday, Enrique is keen to maintain the pressure by chalking up another win.

    “The Club World Cup is attractive but it would be sad if we don’t take care of business before travelling to Japan,” he added. “Deportivo are sixth in the table and they are putting together some spectacular numbers. They work together well in attack and defence and they don’t look anything like the team we saw last season.”

    The biggest star for Depor has been frontman Lucas Perez, who netted the first goal in his team’s fightback at the Nou Camp in May and has been in spectacular form in the current campaign, scoring 10 league goals to become the country’s second-highest scoring Spaniard after Athletic’s Aritz Aduriz.

    Enrique, who is without La Liga’s leading scorer Neymar with a hamstring injury, said: “Perez is in great form. Deportivo are a bad opponent for us. I really like the way they play and they’ll make it tough for us.”

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