Vidal warns Bayern: Barca no Bundesliga team
Arturo Vidal warned Bayern Munich that Barcelona "aren't a Bundesliga team" as the war of words between the two teams heated up ahead of Friday's Champions League quarterfinal in Lisbon.
Barca and Bayern are the only two previous winners still left in the competition but they go into the game in contrasting form.
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Bayern have won 26 of their last 27 competitive matches, drawing the other, and have already secured a domestic double. Barca, meanwhile, are staring down the barrel of a first trophy-less season since 2007-08 after missing out on the La Liga title to Real Madrid.
The difference in form led Bayern legend Lothar Matthaus to claim the Germans would only fail to reach the semifinal if they make huge mistakes, while similar comments from people associated with the club have caused a furor in the Catalan press.
"I've heard [what's been said]," Vidal said in a news conference on Thursday when asked what he thought about the noise coming from the Bayern camp. "But I have not paid much attention to it.
"I know Bayern's players and what's said has come from outside and is not what [the players] think. They have a lot of confidence but they're not playing against a Bundesliga team on Friday, they're up against Barcelona, the best team in the world."
Three draws and a penultimate defeat against Osasuna in the league saw Barca give up a two-point lead over Real Madrid as they chucked away the title, raising doubts about Vidal's claim.
"I understand the criticism," the former Bayern midfielder added. "But we are the best team in the world. That wasn't reflected on the pitch in La Liga and we missed out on the title, but if we connect we can beat anyone. That is why I say we are the best and we have to show it against Bayern."
Friday's clash between the two European heavyweights pits two of the game's most in-form forwards against each other in the form of Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi.
Lewandowski has scored 54 goals in all competitions this season and Matthaus has labelled him "better than Messi," a comparison that Vidal cannot get on board with.
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"Lewandowski is extraordinary, tireless, a goalscorer, really dangerous," he said. "I played with him for three years and saw him grow, saw how he trained, how he prepares.
"But it's very difficult to compare him with Leo, Leo's from another planet. Lewandowski is the best striker in the world, along with Luis Suarez, but you can't [compare with Messi]."
Unsurprisingly, Barca coach Quique Setien also took up Messi's side of the debate.
"It's true Lewandowski is a great player, but I don't think he's at Leo's level, I think that's clear," Setien said. "He's in a great moment of form -- I think 13 goals in the Champions League -- but so is Leo. We saw that against Napoli."
Setien confirmed that Ousmane Dembele will be available for selection, although the France forward is most likely to be on the bench having not played a competitive game since November.
Vidal and Sergio Busquets both return from suspensions, with Samuel Umtiti (injured) and Martin Braithwaite (ineligible) the only players missing.
Source: espn.co.uk
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