Pedro: “It has never been easy against Sporting”

The FC Barcelona striker anticipates a “complicated” match this Saturday against the Asturian team.

1-0 at the Camp Nou, 1-1 and 0-1 at El Molinón. These are FC Barcelona’s latest results against Sporting Gijón. “It has never been easy against Sporting. They always prove they have a great team when they play against us,” said Pedro. The Azulgrana striker believes that the Asturian team’s new manager, Javier Clemente, will make the challenge of overcoming Sporting even more complicated this Saturday: “Clemente likes to be aggressive and he makes his teams reduce the space between the lines [defence to midfield, midfield to offence]. I’m sure it will be difficult.”

This hasn’t been an easy season for Pedro. He’s sustained up to three injuries this year. In fact, he hasn’t played an entire game since December 22nd, when Barça thumped Hospitalet 9-0 at the Camp Nou. However, the striker says he’s back to full strength: “it’s true that I’ve had a couple of injuries, but I’m well now, with more confidence and rhythm. I hope to play more minutes and be able to help the team, it depends on the manager though, he has the last word.”

Pedro isn’t convinced that Barça’s Liga title bid is over: “the truth is that we are 10 points behind. We have to try and not lose anymore and wait for Madrid to drop points to cut into their lead. If their lead increases, the league will be very complicated. We won’t give up on this title and we’ll fight until the end. We’re doing particularly well at the moment.”

Pedro also talked about Vicente del Bosque’s Spanish national side team for the friendly against Venezuela. “We all like to play for the national team, but Del Bosque called on other players this time. There are still a lot of matches and months left. We’ll have to see how all the players finish the season. I’m calm about it,” he said. (via FCBarcelona.com)