Enrique dismisses Malaga fears as City loom

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique declared on Monday that there would be no hangover from his side's shock defeat by Malaga in their Champions League last 16 clash with Manchester City.
Barcelona saw an 11-game winning run abruptly ended by Saturday's 1-0 loss at home to Malaga and despite Tuesday's first leg with City looming into view, questions about the weekend defeat dominated the eve-of-match press conference.
At times Enrique appeared close to exasperation with the Spanish journalists' line of questioning, but he said that one bad result should not overshadow the sparkling displays that had come before.
"I don't see why the team should be down after such a great run of victories," said the former Barcelona and Real Madrid midfielder.
"We didn't do things right at the weekend, we committed a few errors, and that's why we lost. We need to keep on doing things like we have been."
He added: "I'd take losing one game and winning the next 12. Morale is fine. No-one is too down about it."
Reports emerged last year of a rift between Enrique and star player Lionel Messi, but when asked how his relationship with the players was now, the coach replied: "Same as ever."
Enrique's words were echoed by defender Gerard Pique, on his return to the city where he spent four years playing for City's cross-town rivals Manchester United.
"There are no problems between us and the manager," said the Spain international.
"We get on fine, the relationship is good. We just came off 11 wins on the bounce. We don't need to worry about it (the Malaga defeat) anymore. It's behind us now.
"We know what we have to do. We have shown in the past how we can play here. A good result is the best way to show people the team is just how it was three days ago."
- Suarez return -
Barcelona won 2-0 on their last visit to the Etihad Stadium a year ago, en route to a 4-1 aggregate success, but it took a 54th-minute penalty for them to break the deadlock, scored by Messi after he had been brought down by Martin Demichelis right on the edge of the penalty area.
"It will be a similar game," Pique predicted. "We're going to have a lot of the ball and we'll try and attack. The key will be possession.
"Last year the penalty made the difference. It was 0-0 at the time and looked like it was going to be 0-0.
"We'll try to perform in a similar way to last year. We need to be serious, concentrated and create chances."
Tuesday's game will be Barcelona number nine Luis Suarez's first match in England since he left Liverpool last year.
The Uruguayan was a thorn in City's side last season as his 31 goals fired Liverpool to the brink of the title and although he has only found the net seven times since arriving at Camp Nou, Enrique praised his impact.
"I think he's been doing really well," he said. "It's his first season here. He's a real reference in attack for us, a real target man.
"He's got virtues that really benefit us: he's good on the ball, he allows other forwards to work around him and he creates space. I think he's going to bring a lot to Barcelona in the future."
Source: AFP