The manager of Brest, Eric Roy, explains why his team faces a more difficult encounter than Barcelona
Brest manager Eric Roy has warned his players to be on high alert for an injured beast when they face Barcelona at Montjuic on Tuesday night. The French side will take on Hansi Flick's outfit coming off the back of just one point from their last two games, and poor performances in both.
The Breton side are the surprise package so far in the league stage, with 10 points to spare so far. It's something that Roy tries to use to his advantage.
“We are the surprise of the Champions League. We are now on the map. It's something to be proud of. In France, no one bet on us. We silenced the critics. We have ten points. That takes a lot of pressure off us. We are facing a big challenge. It's the kind of thing that makes us tingle. I told the players that we have to keep believing in ourselves.”
“We hope to continue to show what we can do against Barcelona. We have to face the European ogre and now he is injured. We need a lot of resilience, but whatever happens, we will come out on top. We don't come across as if we were friends playing a game. We have nothing to lose.”
Everything indicates that Héctor Fort will start tomorrow. @fansjavimiguel pic.twitter.com/lWjq6xqAkq
— Barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 25, 2024
He noted that if they sit too far back, it would do them more harm than good.
“We want to cause problems and put on a show. If we have the ball 20% of the time, it will be difficult to express. We don't want to be a reactive team. Maybe Barça forces us, but our will is to create problems for them.”
Roy pointed to Celta Vigo and Real Sociedade as projects of how to fight the Blaugrana recipe that until this month seemed more or less unstoppable.
Flick: “It is very important to win these three points at home. We only focus on this; if we win, we will be in a good situation.”
— Barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 25, 2024
“We watched the games of Celta and Real Sociedad,” explained Roy AS Diarybefore heading to Barcelona's now famous high line.
“They play very close to each other when they press. They want to get the ball back very quickly. We know how they play. But then you have to be very precise with your steps. They are very vertical and attack deep. If we are not able to anticipate that, we will have problems.”
Roy also said that his side had won the tactical battle already, but that the game was not being played there. Of course, they go into the match with little to lose and everything to gain. Barcelona are one point behind Brest, and will be looking to strengthen their place in the top eight, and thus qualify for the Round of 16.
