Juventus’ Miralem Pjanic is unfazed by playing Barcelona in the Champions League – “to win the competition you have to beat the favourites”.
The Bianconeri will face the team which beat them in the 2015 final in this year’s last eight, but the Bosnian isn’t cursing the draw.
“We were all together, someone laughed but there was no particular reaction,” Pjanic recalled of the draw, speaking to Tuttosport.
Juventus’ Miralem Pjanic is unfazed by playing Barcelona in the Champions League – “to win the competition you have to beat the favourites”.
The Bianconeri will face the team which beat them in the 2015 final in this year’s last eight, but the Bosnian isn’t cursing the draw.
“We were all together, someone laughed but there was no particular reaction,” Pjanic recalled of the draw, speaking to Tuttosport.
“We realised because our game was the last one drawn, when Bayern [Munich] faced Real [Madrid] it was clear we’d face Barcelona. That’s how it is…
“We want to win this trophy, so to do that we have to be able to overcome one of the strongest teams. Sure, we drew one of the favourites but we want to win this trophy this year.
“We respect Barcelona very much, and we’ll study ways to cause them problems. I think they’d have preferred to draw someone else too. Everyone deserves to be here, because they got here.
“Atletico Madrid have always been in the Semi-Finals in recent years, if not the final. It’s a very balanced Champions League, but we hope to arrive at that period in good shape to play.
“Barcelona are Barcelona, but Juventus are growing.
“Can we go through? It’s possible, but Barcelona were one of the toughest teams we could have drawn. There were definitely more easy teams, but if you want to win the Champions League you can’t hope to only face the weakest teams: you have to face everyone.
“They [Barcelona] are a great team, beyond their star players they rely heavily on possession and use that to tire out their opponents.
“We need to stop them playing and cause them problems, the 6-1 [against Paris Saint-Germain] showed the power of Barcelona although PSG… they committed mistakes you shouldn’t make at certain levels.
“That said, the game was also a demonstration that it’s a lot more difficult at Camp Nou, it’s complicated for everyone.
“It’ll be tough, but on the other hand they have to come to Juventus Stadium and that won’t be easy because we do well at home. They’ll discover that home advantage applies to us too.
“We especially need to avoid conceding three in the last eight minutes, but Barcelona went through because they believed from the first minute to the 95th and they believed they could come back. That’s an enormous show of strength.
“Camp Nou gives the impression of having a pitch which is much wider than the others. When you see the measurements that’s not the case, but they’re so good at using the pitch it seems wider.
“In midfield they have players who always manage to put their strikers in front of goal. They key to stopping them will be there, in midfield.”
It’s a crucial period of the Old Lady, with the Champions League, Coppa Italia semi-final and a Serie A trip to San Paolo to face Napoli in the next month.
“It’s exactly why I came here. [Coach Max] Allegri explained that there are three seasons in one: from August to Decemeber, from January to March and from March until the end. It’s the third which decides everything.
“Now there are no opportunities to make mistakes, every game is crucial and needs to be prepared well.
“Could Barcelona distract us? That must not happen. Against Sampdoria it was a very important game to win against a strong and fit team.
“Now we need to keep our heads down, because we have an objective that we cannot fail in. We have a Roma side behind us who won’t give up, and we need to maintain the gap.”