Barcelona are preparing to host their Czech counterpart Viktoria Pilsen at the Camp Nou in the first round of the Champions League group stage.

During the press conference, Xavi said: “This is the Champions League, it’s a great honor for us to play in this tournament again, the game is difficult because Viktoria Plzen has nothing to lose, we have a very difficult group and this is the most difficult group in recent years.”

He added: “The main goal now is to get through the group stage, and then we’ll see, the dream is free and why we can’t win this tournament, but tomorrow we have to start winning three points.”

He continued: “The Czech national team is a very physical competition, we have to start well, then we have two very strong matches and we have to start winning.”

And about the squad: “Tomorrow there will be a rotation, we have a lot of players, and we had a difficult match with Sevilla, so there will be a rotation.”

Pjanic’s absence from training: “Pjanic decided to leave to play more minutes, he’s a professional player.”

Johnny Khoury