"We are one of the favourites to win the Champions League"

Jules Kounde admitted that he sees Barcelona as one of the favourites to take home the Champions League, but equally insisted that the club maintains a great to hold a great deal of "respect" for other teams in contention for the trophy.

"We are among the favourites. For how we ended the league phase and how we have played in the knockouts so far. But being favourites does not help you to win games. We have to be confident, but also have respect for our rivals," the defender affirmed.

Having gotten past Benfica in the last 16 of the tournament, Barca will go up against Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals. Speaking on the German side, Kounde said that they are a team with "a strong and rapic attack that could cause threat".

"We have already faced them in the league phase. We won, but it was difficult," he recalled. "So, they are going to be two tough games in which we will have to play our best football to come out on top."

With Barcelona still in contention to win every competition they are in, the 24-year-old said that the squad focuses on "becoming a better team each time", insisting that their form does not depend on the praise they receive as he said: "It doesn't matter what people say."

Kounde then went on to talk about the upcoming La Liga showdown against title challengers Atletico Madrid, whom they lost against earlier in the season by 1-2 and then drew with 4-4 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semis.

He said: "We were not happy with those two results because we want to win every match, especially against a direct rival. I also think in those two games we played well, but that the wins just got out of our grasp by a fine margin. So we want to go there and win."