“I wouldn’t tell you if we had a secret weapon,” jokes Barça boss ahead of UWCL Clásico | OneFootball

Pere Romeu insisted that Barcelona will stick to their identity and joked that he wouldn’t disclose any “secret weapon” as they gear up for three back-to-back meetings with Real Madrid, starting with the first leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final tie.

Barça – who missed out on a third consecutive UWCL title with defeat to Arsenal in Lisbon last May – are “really motivated” to return to Europe’s elite club competition, revealed Pere Romeu in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

“It’s a knockout game which gets us particularly excited, and we’re going to play the best game possible to return to the Spotify Camp Nou with an advantage.

“It’s a tough tie, as they always are in the Champions League,” the 32-year-old accepted, adding that Barcelona stand the best chance of progressing if they stick to their usual style of play.

Romeu, who succeeded Jonatan Giráldez as Barça boss in 2024, decided to play his tactical cards close to his chest and joked with reporters, laughing: “I wouldn’t tell you if we had a secret weapon!

“You already know our game. We try to dominate possession, create lots of changes in front of goal and impede any counterattacks, which are one of their key threats. If we have control, we’ll be on the right path to having a good game and that’ll be an advantage for the second leg at the Spotify Camp Nou.”

He reiterated that Barcelona “have got respect for Real Madrid and we’ve got respect for this competition, but we’ll go out there and play the best game that we can to return to the Spotify Camp Nou with a favourable scoreline.

“We know that it’s a tie of 180 minutes, so it won’t be decided tomorrow.”

Wednesday’s meeting in Madrid is the first of three consecutive clashes between the sides, who will also meet in Liga F action this weekend in the Spanish capital before returning to Catalunya for next week’s decisive second leg.

“It’s three consecutive games against them,” Romeu explained, “but we can’t think about the long term.

“We have to do things exactly as we have done them in previous games against them. Those matches help us analyse what worked, and help us be even better in what’s to come.”

Barça will take on their traditional rivals on Wednesday at the Estádio Alfredo di Stefano, with Real Madrid the only team in the quarter-finals of the competition that opted not to host their home fixture at the club’s main stadium.