‘I was there for 28 years’… Garcia Pimienta opens up on his time at Barcelona | OneFootball

The crunch matches against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid that are set to take place in the next week are taking up most of the attention of Barcelona fans.

However, the upcoming tie against Sevilla is also expected to be quite an entertaining match, as the Andalusians are coming into this match with their spirits high after winning the derby against Real Betis.

This match will also witness a familiar face returning to Barcelona, as Garcia Pimienta is the head coach of the visitors, who has had a long association with the Catalan club, most prominently as the head coach of Barcelona Atletic.

As Diario AS has reported, Pimienta talked about his association with the Blaugranes and made some comments about the upcoming tie ahead of this game.

Talking about his association with the Catalans, the former Barcelona Atletic trainer said:

“Yes, it is. I was there for 28 years, 11 as a player and 17 as a coach. This is the third time I face them, but it’s still special. There are players I’ve coached in the youth academy, and I still keep in touch with some of them.”

The Sevilla coach was quite clear that Barcelona are the best team in Spain at this point of the season, and also revealed the key strength of his team:

“Yes, the standings say so; they are the leaders. We have a way of playing; we are stronger with the ball, but we are up against a team that has been playing this way for many years, the one that has the ball the most.”

“We need to be solid when they have the ball but without giving up the idea that when we have it, things should go as we want. We must enjoy defending together, making it difficult for them to create goal-scoring chances. And then we need to make them uncomfortable and make them suffer when the ball is ours.”

Pimienta went on to highlight another aspect of Barcelona’s play that he wanted his team to be wary of:

“Barcelona is going to attack us; they have a very high defensive line, which is like a candy but also puts you offside. I remember against Villarreal when they had two or three goals disallowed. We need to be cautious, not fall for that high line but also take advantage of it. I insist: they should suffer when we have the ball, and we should suffer when they have it.”

The tie against Sevilla is set to be a very promising affair, and the ties of the current Sevilla coach with Barcelona add further spice to this game. Hopefully, the Catalans will be able to get a win against their former player and coach, and go into the difficult matches against Bayern and Real Madrid in the best of spirits.