Pique: "A derby is always something special"

Barcelona player Gerard Piqué gave an interview to Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo.





Is it special to play against Espanyol or is that something you're supposed to say?
For me it really is like that. We are motivated to play against them but especially because we qualify for the semi-finals if we win. Since childhood, a derby is always something special because they were our main rivals in the Catalan youth league. Now the intensity maybe has dropped a little because of the rivalry with Madrid but it's always a special game for the culés.

It seems that you're really motivated to defeat Espanyol.
Yes, I enjoy it a lot to win from them. It's an extra motivation that they sometimes play the victim in a way I don't understand. They used to say that they played with youth players while we were paying millions and millions for foreign players but now we have more players in the first team and they are looking for other excuses. In the last league game, there were the problems with the Boixos Nois. Something that shouldn't happen ever again, don't get me wrong. But they always try to find something and that's not right.

Does it have an influence that Barcelona now has so many youth players?
Yes, there's more desire to win and people also were more disappointed after the 0-0 last week. On the pitch we give everyting.

You can see that it's also a special game for Guardiola?
He also stresses that it's a derby, that the game against Madrid is very important but that this is the Catalan derby and that we have to win it.

This is the first final of the season?
No, because the first was the game against Wisla when we had to qualify for the Champions League. If we wouldn't have won those games, it would have been a serious step back. But we're playing for a trophy and we want to win it. And therefore we need to win this game because a draw with goals would leave us out.

Would you understand it if Espanyol would focus on the league?
You have to understand the situation they're in. In the league, they're not going through their best moment, but I don't think that will mean they will throw away the cup because when you're already in the quarter-fianls you want to go through. And a game against Barcelona is also always very special for them.

If they will play with a B-team, will that have an influence on your game?
No, it won't, we'll give everything. To respect a team is, when you're leading with four oaols, to go after the fifth. Winning 4-0 and starting to pass the ball around at the back is a lack of respect. And every team would do the same with us if they could score five times against us.

We're talking about a big game but the Camp Nou maybe won't filled with fans.
Everyting goes well for the team but that's the only thing that we miss. We understand that there's an economic crisis, that the television channels are broadcasting it, that the games are played late in the evening, that it's cold... But I would always go and see a derby at the Camp Nou and even more so when it's an important game like this one.


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