Luis Enrique unconcerned by early kick-off against Leganes

Luis Enrique insists an early kick-off against Leganes in LaLiga on Saturday will not be used as an excuse by his Barcelona side.

Barca demolished Celtic 7-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday to bounce back from a 2-1 league defeat at home to Alaves last weekend.

But a 1300 local time kick-off has reduced their recovery time after that Champions League game, although Luis Enrique appeared unconcerned at his pre-match news conference.

“Kick-off is the same for Leganes, they don’t play much at this time either,” he said. “The hard thing would be if we kick off at 1pm and them at 3pm, that would be ridiculous.

“As for diet, we are very understanding and we have the means to ensure the players take on the right food, it is a priority issue for us.

“I think you’ll see the same Barca as ever, we’ll see what the pitch is like and maybe have to adapt but we have to do the right things to get the three points. We’ll make the decision, it’s the same decision as ever, to get things right for the team.

“We will go [to Leganes] the day before because of the travel but preparation for the game is the same as ever. We talk about strategy and tactics before the game but what has changed is we’re not travelling the day of the game.

“It’s not an excuse and if things don’t work out, it’s not an excuse. We focus on what we can control, it’s a cliche that I keep repeating. We don’t want to get distracted.”

Leganes have four points from three LaLiga games and they held Atletico Madrid to a 0-0 draw in their last home game, with Luis Enrique expecting a challenging match for his side.

“They’re a very well organised team that plays with intensity and, as a unit, they’re good on the counter and with transitions,” he added. “They’re good at set pieces so it will not be an easy game.

“It will be a difficult game as any away fixture is, Leganes will make life complicated for us. They’ll try to create danger and we will need to be at their level of intensity.

“They’re a brave rival and fearless despite being a newly-promoted side and as they showed in the game against Atleti they like to pressure the opponent.”