FC Barcelona visit Real Sociedad this Thursday for the first leg of the Spanish Cup quarter-finals. Barça is hoping to end an unfortunate streak of bad results in the Basque ground better known as “the Anoeta curse” and comes barging in with confidence due to the latest good performances, and this precisely is what Luis Enrique expects from his players: “We always go into matches with the objective of winning, be better than our opponents and create more over 90 minutes, regardless of whether there is a second leg. Winning will be a great step forward but not definitive. It will a very close tie”

Lucho understands the difficulty of facing a inspired and well-worked Real Sociedad team which have given troubles to the Blaugranas in recent clashes: “My wish is for the game to be different to the one in La Liga where they were the better team, we want to change that image. They are dangerous if you let them play, they get into the box, they have finishers and they can counter well. Eusebio is doing a great job and they are going to make it difficult for us.”

Regarding Ivan Rakitic’s situation where the Croat have been absent from the latest starting lineups, Lucho stated that “Ivan has been, is and will be important for the team and the club. I have nothing to say about contract renewal issues because that’s not about football. Concerning the game, the key is that all the players are available for the coach and that’s what I desire.”