Barcelona: Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has highlighted the importance of Tuesday's Champions League semi-final match against Chelsea at Camp Nou.
The Catalan giants host the Blues looking to overturn a one-goal deficit after suffering a 1-0 defeat in the first leg at Stamford Bridge earlier in mid-week.
Since Saturday's 2-1 loss to Real Madrid in the league has left Barca practically out of the race for the La Liga title, Guardiola has urged his players to focus on the European match against the Blues.
"We will see on Tuesday if we can pass this test, but I think that our players will lift themselves up and try to find a way for things to go well for us against Chelsea," he said. "What happens on Tuesday will mark what is left of the season. Although it does not seem like it, these lads have been playing together for a long time and they have had setbacks like this before and were able to pick themselves up."
Looking ahead to Tuesday's match, Guardiola admitted that Roberto Di Matteo's men will be in better physical condition that his own. "Chelsea were able to change eight players for their match [against Arsenal] on Saturday," Guardiola noted. "We were not."
Captain Carles Puyol also stressed that Barcelona need to move on from their loss in the clasico and focus on the upcoming Champions League match.
"We now have to focus on Tuesday. It’s a competition we are keen to win and we are close to another final," Puyol told the club website. "We have to be very aware of their counter-attacks. I can see it being a similar game tactically to the Madrid match. It would be a very attractive final if we meet Madrid again. We’d have to see what would happen then, but for now we are focusing on Tuesday."
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