11/17/2023 at 15:59 CET
Mariona, Patri Guijarro, Graham Hansen, Ona Batlle and Salma analyze the duel between Barça and Madrid this Sunday (12:00 p.m.) in Montjuïc
“They have been growing, but we are also showing more level every year”
A Classic is a Classic. From the Champions League, the Super Cup or the League. Whether it is played at the Johan Cruyff, the Spotify Camp Nou or Montjuïc. A day marked in red on the calendar. “The game of the year”, for the Barça dressing room. Mariona Caldentey, Patri Guijarro, Caroline Graham Hansen, Ona Batlle and Salma Paralluelo analyze this Sunday’s match (12.00pm) at the Olympic Stadium. A fight that is expected to be highly contested and a guaranteed spectacle on the ‘magic mountain’.
“For every culé person, it is the most meaningful game of the year. Everyone is important, but playing against Real Madrid makes you feel that extra special motivation”, says Mariona. “Inside there is a different feeling,” adds Patri, “it’s a bit of the feeling we bring with the Champions League. They are one of those games that you wish would come.”
More competitive
Since, a year after absorbing the Heel, Real Madrid has a women’s team (2020), all the Clásicos have been dyed Barça. Eleven out of eleven victories, and several of them, thrashes. “The numbers are these and I hope we can say the same this weekend,” says Mariona, “but it is true that it is a team that has been growing, has been signing and will be increasingly more competitive.” ““They are working well, signing good players and they are getting a little closer.”points out Graham. “They are in the Champions League, with the game against Chelsea they will arrive with much more strength and desire, and this context makes it even more special. The League is becoming more and more competitive. It is what we all want”says Father.
However, “We, like Barça, also continue to grow and improve. We want to continue maintaining that distance to continue being the best team in the world”, points out Ona Batlle. “It is a competition in which the key is consistency, and this match is very important, because it can decide the League, we are right behind them. But there are also other teams and we cannot drop points.” And, for Graham, “It is important to have a strong Madrid, because Barça-Madrid is cool, it is a big game, that everyone knows. It is important that it reflects the level of women’s football. It is the best game of the year with the boys, well also with the girls”.
Premiere in Montjuïc
It will be the first women’s match at the Estadi Olímpic. “We are playing in Montjuïc and doing it with so many people supporting us is going to be very cool,” says Salma, “we are ready and focused on what is going to happen on the field.” “The Camp Nou has given us very special moments and we hope that the same thing happens at the Estadi Olímpic.”Mariona adds.
Patri Guijarro does not hesitate to thank the gesture of opening the stadium to the club. “We knew it wasn’t easy this year to go play a League game there, so it’s very special. I hope it’s full.”. Ona Batlle until now was living the classics from Manchester. “I have in mind the ideal scenario that was the Camp Nou, so I hope we can experience something similar.” And Graham emphasized the schedule: “It’s a good time for people to come and spend the day with their family. They are our people, and they will come to support us at the Johan, at the Camp Nou, at Montjuïc or wherever.”
The most special
For Ona Batlle, youth player and culé from birth, it will be her first Clásico as a player. The closest thing she has played is a United-City in England. “Both are matches of maximum rivalry, they go a little along the same line. But I, as a culé, experience it differently, because this is the club I have always wanted. “I want the game to start now.” Graham wins the Champions Classic at the Camp Nou. “Because of the whole match, the context, because of how everything happened. And we moved on to the semis. It was a dream you don’t want to wake up from. “I think about it now and I get ‘goosebumps.'”
And Mariona and Salma, with the one from the Super Cup semi-finals on January 19, in which they both scored. “The one we won in extra time, when Irene was sent off and we played many minutes with one less player. Even so, we managed to win and end up dominating the game with one less player. They are all special, but that one gave us extra confidence,” the Spaniard smiles. And the Zaragoza native remembers her goal: “I came out in the last few minutes, everything was a little tense, we were already winning 2-1 and it was the goal of the game. calm down, the celebration was very beautiful”. A message to the fans: “Let them come, let them be encouraged, it’s going to be a very cool game.”
2023-11-17 15:34:33
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