SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Valverde, FC Barcelona Coach:

"I see Espanyol at a good time, their numbers also say that. I think they are in one of their best moments of the season due to the results they have achieved in La Liga and also for having recovered in the previous round with Levante."

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Valverde, FC Barcelona Coach:

"In these qualifiers, what is most important is not having bad moments because bad times can cost you dearly. Then we have to be firm and our intention is to reach the semifinals knowing that it will be complicated and difficult because we respect them very much."

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Valverde, FC Barcelona Coach:

(On whether Real Madrid is out of the title race)

"I think that no team is ever ruled out (of the championship race). No matter how much noise could be out there, one does not discard it, because in football we already know, if we have a memory, that one day you are here and the next one is the opposite. This goes around so much and when you're fine you do not want it to move."