Racing Santander ready to ‘surprise’ Barcelona at Camp Nou, says coach Jose Alberto Lopez

Racing Santander are not travelling to Barcelona for a sightseeing trip but to cause an upset, coach Jose Alberto Lopez said on the eve of their meeting with the La Liga leaders at Camp Nou on Wednesday.

The Cantabrian side face a difficult task against Hansi Flick’s team, but Lopez said his players were determined to embrace the occasion and compete without fear.

“We have a mission we have all dreamed of since we were children: playing in stadiums like the one we will visit tomorrow,” Lopez said at a news conference after Racing’s final training session.

“It is an extremely difficult away match because of Barcelona’s current level, but we will try to be brave, show our usual ability and play with courage.”

Racing will be without Andre Almeida, who is suspended, while Simon Eriksson and Andres Martin are unavailable because of injury.

They can, however, draw encouragement from their most recent meeting with Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, when Racing pushed their opponents until the final moments.

Lopez does not expect Wednesday’s match to follow the same pattern, though.

“It will not be anything like that game,” he said. “That was a match that lasted 90 minutes, whereas this is a league game.”

The Racing coach, who is from Asturias, declined to reveal whether he would make changes to his starting line-up. He said his approach was not based on separating players into starters and substitutes.

“There are no starters or substitutes; there are performances, and we assess them and make decisions based on that,” Lopez said.

“Thinking about changes when facing the best teams, or one of the best teams in the world, is complicated. But we will make our decisions and select the players we believe are best suited to surprising them. We will not reveal anything.”

Lopez also praised the quality of Flick’s Barcelona, highlighting the range of attacking threats available to them and the intensity of their reaction when possession is lost.

“They have different attacking options that allow them to hurt you,” he said. “Defensively, they put you under great pressure after losing the ball. It seems they do not give you a moment’s rest, and that is the difference between them and other teams of a similar level.

“We must be extremely alert, especially when we lose the ball.”

Lopez identified teamwork, effort and defensive discipline as essential if Racing are to withstand the pressure at Camp Nou.

“They always play in the way they want to play,” he said. “We have to perform at a high level as a team, make a huge effort and show solidarity.

“Defensively, we must try to defend as far away from our own goal as possible.”