Valverde prepared to attack Madrid

Ernesto Valverde acknowledges that Barcelona’s 3-1 home defeat to Real Madrid in their Supercopa de Espana first leg means they must attack their rivals at the Santiago Bernabeu.

A Gerard Pique own goal and, following Lionel Messi’s penalty, fine strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo and Marco Asensio handed Valverde a humbling reverse in his first competitive game in charge of Barca.

However, he is adamant that the tie is not over and his side will head to Madrid on Wednesday to attack Zinedine Zidane’s men.

“We have to create scoring situations,” he told a pre-match news conference. “The disadvantage is important – we need to go forward.

“We also have to control Madrid’s counter-attacks, they are specialists in that. The team was unbalanced [in the first leg]

“Nothing is impossible. We can look at our previous results, they make us see that we have possibilities. In any case, we keep our idea of ​​going there to win the game and get the title.”

And Valverde is wary of a scrappy game against the European champions as he realises that can only favour Zidane’s side.

“We are a team that needs to be together to win,” he added. “If the match is scrappy, Madrid will profit.”