Daniel Alves, who did not play at the Parc des Princes in Barcelona’s first-leg match against the Parisiens because he was suspended for yellow card accumulation, spoke ahead of Tuesday’s second-leg tie.

He said he saw in Paris a Barcelona squad that “wants to fight for the tournament.” The Brazilian, who will be available for Tuesday’s match at the Camp Nou, said: “We were rightly placed on the pitch with the resoluteness we have shown this season.”

Alves singled out Marco Verratti’s absence in the first leg as the reason why PSG found it difficult to defeat Barcelona. “[Verratti] is the playmaker and PSG suffered without him,” he said.

Alves also spoke about his two countrymen from PSG, Thiago Silva and David Luiz, who are facing injury issues ahead of the clash. “They are world-class footballers and if they do not play, obviously that will affect PSG,” he said.

The Parisiens have arrived in Barcelona and David Luiz was one of them. Silva, however, was left out of the squad because of injury.

Alves recognized Barcelona’s only option is to strive for the win: “We will not speculate with the score, because we do not know how to do that. The team’s philosophy and spirit are to battle in every play and every match as if it were the last.”

“We cannot think about the previous result but we must aim to control the match and to score as soon as possible. That is the only way we can reach the semifinals,” the right back said.

The defender also said that there are no other ways to be successful in the Champions League but “to have courage and to take risks.”