Intro:

Tito Vilanova gave his first news conference since Barcelona returned to start pre-season training on Monday (July 17).

Script:

It's back to work for Barcelona as they look to plot the downfall of Spanish champions Real Madrid.

With Tito Vilanova having replaced Pep Guardiola as manager, they will want to send out a strong message - starting with their two-legged meeting to decide the Spanish Super Cup.

The traditional curtain-raiser to the new season features the league champions and the King's Cup winners.

Barcelona relied heavily on the staggering 73 goals Lionel Messi banged in last season, and Vilanova expects nothing less going into the new campaign.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish): Tito Vilanova, Barcelona coach:
"Leo Messi has a specific role in this team. Last season he scored a lot of goals, hopefully he will score the same numbers of goals. That was crucial to the team. To have more progress in this team he has to score 100 goals, if he can do that, our numbers will be much better. Certainly he has progressed. At the beginning, I thought that he had a lot to improve. He is scoring with the left leg, with the head, when people say that he could not do it. He is more complete now, he understands the game and he is the first to take on extra responsibility."

The Spanish Super Cup first leg is at the Nou Camp on August the 23rd, with the return at the Bernabeu six days later.