Guardiola warns of revitalised Almeria

Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has followed David Villa’s lead in warning of Almeria’s threat in their Copa del Rey clash on Wednesday.

Barca crushed Almeria 8-0 when the two sides met in La Liga in November, but the former has since improved their results in a bid to avoid relegation and have won four of their last six games in all competitions.

David Villa sounded a warning on Monday that Barca would not have it so easy when Almeria visit Camp Nou for the first leg of the tie, with his manager Guardiola echoing his comments a day later.

“In the cup, they’ve won six games out of six (games) and they’ve scored 10 goals in their last three away games,” he said.

“Probably it is the most important draw of their history and they are the same as us in that they are just one step from a Spanish Cup final. (Albert) Crusat and (Pablo) Piatti are very dangerous when they have some space. (Leonardo) Ulloa is in excellent striking form and he’s a really dangerous player when (the ball) reaches the goal area and he heads the ball well.”

“On a defensive side, they play differently from how they played with their previous coach. We’ll see. We’ll see if we’re able to grab a good result that will allow us to travel to Almeria with options of qualifying for the final.”

The heavy loss to Barca spelled the end of Juan Manuel Lillo’s tenure at the club, with Jose Luis Oltra ushering in a far more positive run since his appointment.

“It’s been a while now since the club decided to change coaches,” Guardiola said.

“What was valid is therefore no longer valid. Now we must just look into what they’ve done since Jose Luis Oltra started coaching them.”

The second leg takes place on February 2, with the winner set to face either Real Madrid or Sevilla in the final.