Barcelona right-back Dani Alves has said that he will happily sacrifice Barcelona’s stylish football if it means progression to the Champions League quarter-finals at Arsenal’s expense. Barca are renowned for their style, but Alves says results are more important.
“The aim is always to win and play really well but there’s the opposition to think about, high expectations, then there’s better teams, teams that try to play or teams that are more physical, so for us to come out of another game with a win, we just keep going.
“Sometimes suffering, having to hold on to a result, stops you relaxing and helps you get there because if you want to achieve great things then you have to come through difficulties. It’s always beautiful to play spectacular football but it’s more beautiful to keep winning.”
Barca laboured to a narrow win over Las Palmas on Sunday, but Alves says the result was the only thing that counts, “The team is always going to put all their effort into it, but sometimes things don’t go well or how you’d hoped but this is football! Even if you don’t play at your best you’ve got to pick up results and that’s six points from six, no?”
