Valencia manager comments on playing Barcelona at Estadi Johan Cruyff – ‘It’s an atypical situation’ | OneFootball

FC Barcelona will lock horns with Valencia this Sunday in their first home game of the 2025/26 La Liga season.

The game, however, will not be played at the Spotify Camp Nou, with the stadium still not ready for reopening. Instead, the Catalans will host Los Che at Estadi Johan Cruyff, in front of 6,000 fans.

Carlos Corberan reacts

The fact that the stadium was not officially confirmed until five days before the game led to a lot of confusion.

But with the match now set to be played at Estadi Johan Cruyff, Valencia manager Carlos Corberan has shared his thoughts on having to face Barcelona at the alternate venue.

“It’s an atypical situation because the stadium is usually known in advance, and the Federation and La Liga set rules and have to ensure those rules are followed. What I’ve done is focus on ourselves, regardless of the field we’re playing on,” he said.

The Valencia coach stressed that the size of the pitch is not a problem, but pointed out that it does affect the most important part of football, which is the supporters.

Valencia manager Carlos Corberan. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

“When the stadium was announced, the club made an effort to have 290 people supporting the team; we think it’s necessary. It hasn’t been in line with the level of prestige of the competition,” he said.

Onto the sporting matters, Corberan acknowledged that Valencia have been poor of late against Barcelona, losing 7-1 and 5-0 in their recent meetings, and must step up this weekend.

“We’re trying to transform that pain into anger and motivation to show that those two games weren’t going to represent Valencia,” he said.

The Valencia coach, aware of the scale of the challenge, highlighted the quality of Barcelona players by name: Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Ferran Torres, and Marcus Rashford.

“They’re far superior to the pitch or the stands at Estadi Johan Cruyff,” he said.

Finally, on Barcelona’s style, he emphasised the influence of Hansi Flick, saying: “Barcelona used to dominate you with more horizontal passes than vertical ones.

“But with Flick it’s more vertical than horizontal, he wants to reduce your attacking space and he wants to dominate you all the time.”

Source: Mundo Deportivo