Barcelona's Gerard Pique warns of Juventus threat

Gerard Pique feels that fans are not aware of the threat that Juventus poses in the final

Madrid, June 3 (IANS) FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique warned on Wednesday that his side should not be overconfident ahead of their UEFa Champions League final against Juventus on Saturday.

Barcelona travel to Berlin as winners of the La Liga and the King's Cup, while Juventus are also winners of a domestic double in Italy. However, Pique admits to being worried by the fact that many Barcelona fans fail to appreciate the threat of their rivals, reports Xinhua.

"Juventus may look like they are an easy rival, but that is not the case," he said. Pique used Juventus' semi-final victory over Barcelona's traditional rivals Real Madrid to highlight his points.

"Real Madrid always create chances, and at the Santiago Bernabeu (stadium), no matter how many chances they created Juve got their defensive tactics right, especially in the second half," he said.

The central defender commented that nobody had expected the Italian champions to get this far in the competition.

"That's what usually happens, but they beat (Borussia) Dortmund over two legs and then knocked out Monaco, who are also a tough team to play," he said, adding that Spanish fans tend to think in terms of the Barcelona-Madrid domestic duopoly.

"In Spain everyone thinks it's all about Barca and Madrid and that we will beat any foreign team, but we've all been proved wrong," the 2010 World Cup winner with Spain, said.

"There's a reason there's never been a Barca-Madrid Champions League final," said Pique, who said that although his side was the favourite, that would guarantee nothing on Saturday night.