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Strongly reinforced Madrid's road causes concern for the Spanish champions of the last two years. The sports director of the Catalan superclub spoke about it as both teams prepare for the upcoming season.
"We know our strengths, but we also know that we will face challenges after new management arrived at Real Madrid," said Barcelona's sports director Txiki Begiristain on the club's website.
The new president of Real, Ramon Calderon, appointed former Juventus coach Fabio Capello as the team's head coach, and this week was joined by two "Old Lady" players - Italian national team defender Fabio Cannavaro and Brazilian national team midfielder Emerson.
On Friday evening, Real should finally confirm the acquisition of Dutch national team striker Ruud van Nistelrooy from Manchester United.
"Step by step, Real is building a strong team, but luckily we are more stable and already have a fully assembled team," said T. Begiristain.
This summer, Barcelona has already been reinforced with Icelandic national team striker Eidur Gudjohnsen and defenders Lilian Thuram from Juventus and Gianluca Zambrotta from Italy. These players have joined a team that won the Spanish championship for the second consecutive year last year and triumphed in the UEFA Champions League.
"Everyone knows that last year we struggled to win two titles, and we must not forget that. If we can play as we did last year, I believe we can once again be very proud of the team," said the Spaniard. "Perhaps we will be able to win one or two titles again, but we do not want to specify an exact number - it would be unfair to the players."
