Guardiola and Vitor Pereira spoke to the press in Monaco and gave some interesting insights regarding the European Super Cup match on Friday, along with some other tidbits. Read our compilation after the jump.

FC Barcelona will face UEFA Cup winners Porto on Friday in Monaco. As always, Guardiola had nothing but compliments for the opposition and also built up the excitement ahead of the match. Porto is an excellent side but unfortunately just lost two of their biggest stars, strong striker Falcao to Atletico Madrid and the talented manager André Villas-Boas to Chelsea. Guardiola said: “Finals are meaningful when you play against clubs with a great history – it was an honour to play against Manchester United and it’s an honour to play against one of the strongest teams in the world now in Porto. Mathematically their figures are impeccable and when you watch them play you can see they do things very well. I think it will be an excellent final, just like the Champions League was.”

“It is an excellent final between two teams that deserve it,” added Guardiola in his pre-match press conference. Commenting about their preparation for the game, Guardiola was pleased with how things are going and was rather adamant that his team deserves to be there, especially after Barcelona’s strong performance in the final against Manchester United. “We won the right to be here by winning the Champions League, and that’s what counts. We have had just enough time to prepare. At first we were worried about getting ready for the Spanish Supercup and having this game so soon after.”

Not one to make excuses, Guardiola is convinced that although the team will miss Puyol and Pique through injury, whoever replaces them will rise to the challenge. He stated that “we are lucky to be here and we have to think of the difficulties as a challenge. We always get through and we have to make sure this time is no exception.” A little worried about the good weather and if the flamboyant environment of Monaco will tempt and disrupt the team’s preparations, he also added, “we just hope the beautiful weather and the yachts won’t distract us.”

The Barça gaffer also offered his view on Porto. “They are a team that comes at you with intensity, they play well up front and all know how to play good football. There is a lot of sense to what they do. We’d love to do the things they do. They change players and managers and keep on winning. Last year they won the league without losing a match. It’s a very strong team, in all senses, they are well put together. We’ll have to perform very well to beat them.” As for his own team’s approach, he said, “We always go out one hundred per cent. When you play in finals you wonder if you’ll ever get the chance again. In part we have to enjoy it and in part we have to suffer.”

Regarding the team’s level of fitness, Pep said, “we are better than we were ten days ago but poorer than we will be ten days from now. You can’t expect to be at your peak at this stage because there’s a lot of competition ahead. If we were able to overcome such a tough test as Madrid then we have to go into tomorrow’s match believing we can win it.”

Meanwhile Vitor Pereira was given a great challenge, trying to motivate his team ahead of this match and make do with their slightly diminished squad strength. On an additional note, he has been given the seemingly insurmountable task of containing Lionel Messi, who was just crowned the inaugural winner of the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award on the eve of the game. “You can’t stop Messi with any special tactic,” Vítor Pereira said. “You stop him with a strong team performance, by concentrating defensively, covering each other and anticipating intentions. You will see our own game plan and identity; you don’t adapt to your opponent.”

Although conceding that this current Barcelona team is one of the best teams he has ever seen in his life, he made sure that his team won’t give them too much respect and will give their all for an excellent spectacle. “We’re here on our own merit following a great season. We know Barcelona are a great team, but we’re not here to see them. We came here to win this game so we have the ingredients for a great spectacle,” conveyed the Porto manager with strong conviction.

Hours before the interview, Barcelona’s promising youngster Martin Montoya was given his first call for the Spain senior national team. This surprise brought happiness for Guardiola, who asserted, “I was surprised. For a B team player to be picked for the national team is a very nice surprise. I know they’ll treat him well and he won’t feel alone.”

Source: fcbarcelona.cat, uefa.com; Image: AP Photo