Valverde: Barça must plan for every game as if it was the last

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde says his side must prepare for every game like it's their last after dropping four points in their last two league games. 

Barça have drawn with Espanyol and Getafe in recent weeks and go to Eibar on Saturdy with their lead at the top of La Liga down from 11 points to seven points. 

"We’ve still not won anything yet," Valverde warned. "The season is going well, but we all know that everything can depend on one bad result or one good result.

"What we have been saying since the beginning is that there is still a long way to go and we have to plan for the next game like it was the final game.

"To keep picking up points is difficult, it’s not as easy as people think, as the Getafe result showed. The opposition are strong, so we have to overcome that. There’s a long way to go." 

Valverde says the biggest mistake Barça could make would be to think they have things wrapped up. 

"If you think you have room for error, that’s the first step towards making errors," he added.

"You have to play the games ahead of you. If you look at the table, if you think that 'I can lose the next game and still be top'… but I don’t want to lose. To win, you have to plan properly for every game."

Especially games against teams like Eibar, who have risen to seventh in the table on the back of one defeat in 12 league games. 

"The moment of form Eibar are in [is what] worries me the most at moment," he said. "They had a tough spell at the start of the season but they’ve caught a wave of form and they’re riding it at the moment.

"They play in a very determined way, marked by their manager. They're possibly in their best form of the season, close to European places... it's very difficult to play against them: they force you back and they’re very good at home, intense.

"You have to know how to overcome that pressure, if you do you have a chance, but they are very strong, as they have demonstrated."