Hansi Flick: ‘Playing against Athletic Club is always difficult’.

At 19:00 (Saudi local time), Rapinha sat down for the press conference ahead of the first semi-final between Athletic Club and FC Barcelona. The Barça captain began by explaining the club's enthusiasm for this competition: ‘A title gives confidence to any team, we have to be ready to fight for everything. We have the chance to win a title and it would be very important and would give us strength for the whole season’.

The Culé striker reflected on the start of the year and his injury: ‘We started the year with a win which was important. I've had some minor niggles, but what footballer doesn't, I feel fine and I hope to be able to help the team’.

‘Football is often unfair, against Atletico we played a good game but we lost. Sometimes you play worse and win or the vice versa. We want to be 100% focused on the game and make as few mistakes as possible and find a way to win,’ commented Rapinha.

‘We have quite a few fans here and to be able to play in front of them and experience this special moment is great. Maybe the people who come here don't often have the opportunity to see Barça. We want to thank all the fans of the club for their affection,’ he said. ‘The Super Cup is a very important title, to be able to fight for a trophy that is among the biggest of the season is a spectacular thing,’ concluded the Brazilian player.

After Rapinha's statements, it was Hansi Flick's turn to speak. The German coach began by praising their Super Cup semi-final opponents: ‘I think that playing against Athletic Club is always difficult. They are a very good team, they have very good players, it's great watching them play. They play very well and I think it's going to be a very good game’.

‘I haven't had much time to do things because we only arrived yesterday and I've been in the hotel all day working. You can tell that the people here love football and follow us,’ he explained when asked about playing in Jeddah.

The Barça coach closed the press conference by saying: ‘I feel that the team is ready and they have the strength to do everything and focus only on tomorrow's game. We want to win the semi-final. If we win the title it would be very significant for us’.

FULL PRESS CONFERENCE

Following the press conference, Fútbol Club Barcelona went through their paces at the King Abdullah Sports City facilities for their final training session before the match against Athletic Club. The RFEF broadcast live the first few minutes of the session.