Fabian Ruiz believes Napoli and Barcelona play in a similar style, both eager to ‘dominate possession’ in their Europa League play-off, and admits it is ‘nice’ to be linked with a transfer to the Blaugrana.
The first leg of this play-off kicks off at Camp Nou on Thursday at 17.45 GMT.
“We know this is an important competition and we want to go all the way,” said the Spain international midfielder in his press conference.
“Barcelona are strong, but we are doing well too and hope to win tomorrow. We like to have control of the ball, hold possession and dominate the game, but Barcelona play the same way. We’ll see who gets more of the ball.”
Barca dropped down into this play-off after finishing third in their Champions League group and are under their second coach of the campaign.
“We know that Barcelona are going out there to win, but so are we. We prepared with hunger and hope to bring home a result, even if we know it’s going to be difficult.
“They made January signings, it’s a home and away tie and hopefully having the second leg at home can be a slight advantage.
“It’s not right to say Barcelona today are less frightening an opponent than in the past, as they have great players.
“I don’t know if Napoli are among the favourites to win the trophy, but we are a strong team and want to challenge as far as possible.”
Much has been said about the midfielder’s future, as Fabian Ruiz is only under contract until June 2023 and has repeatedly been linked with a move back to Spain for Real Madrid or Barcelona.
“It is always nice to see yourself linked with great clubs, especially the Spanish ones,” he replied.
“However, I have another year on my contract, I’m happy at Napoli and concentrated on tomorrow’s match.”
Napoli, Fabian: “Bello essere accostato alle spagnole ma ho un altro anno di contratto e sto bene qui” https://t.co/942M5GOwnI
— TUTTOmercatoWEB (@TuttoMercatoWeb) February 16, 2022