Pique warns of Champions League threat posed by Juventus

FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique warned on Wednesday that his side should not be overconfident ahead of their Champions League final against Juventus on Saturday.

Barca travel to Berlin as winners of the Spanish League and Cup, while Juventus are also winners of a domestic double in Italy, however, Pique admits to being worried by the fact many Barca fans fail to appreciate the threat of their rivals.

"Juventus may look like they are an easy rival, but that is not the case," he said in sports paper Marca.

Pique used Juventus' semifinal victory over Barca's traditional rivals, Real Madrid, to highlight his points. "Real Madrid always create chances, and at the Bernabeu, 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 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 Barca-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. There's a reason there's never been a Barca-Madrid Champions League final," said Pique, who concluded that although his side were favorites, that would guarantee nothing on Saturday night. Endit