"Criticism from the press doesn't affect me"

Barcelona will take on Porto in a Champions League group stage match on Tuesday and further progress in Europe's top competition is a challenge for them despite being one of the favourites to lift the trophy this season.

The Catalan giants signed Joao Cancelo on loan from Manchester City to bolster their defence in order to face this type of test with a strengthened squad.

The right-back spoke at Monday's pre-match press conference to discuss his current team's expectations: "We are approaching this match as a final. We know how important this match is for the squad and for the club," he told reporters.

"We could have got the ticket to the next round in the last match and it will be a very difficult game. We have a month of very important matches and we have to win.

 

November 27, 2023

"We didn't play the way we wanted to in the last games, but against Rayo we had a better feeling, although it wasn't our best game. We have to improve and important players like Frenkie [de Jong] are back," he continued.

Moreover, the Portuguese defender spoke about the criticism he and his teammates are receiving for their performances in recent matches: "Criticism from the press doesn't affect me because I'm a veteran, but we have very young players.

"We have to know how to deal with the pressure because that is the only way we will achieve great things. We must always try to do better than we did in the last game. We have a very young team with a lot of quality," he added.

 

November 27, 2023