New Barca boss Valverde relishes trio of Clasicos

Ernesto Valverde wants to star t his tenure as Barce - lona coach in the best way possible, by beating Real Madrid.

After becoming Barcelona’s 57th coach, Valverde said his first goal was to get ready for a trio of “Clasico” matches in the next few months.

“It makes the challenge we have ahead of us even bigger ,” Val verde said about Barcelona’s friendly against Madrid in Miami on 29 July before the curtain- raising two- leg Spanish Super Cup in August.

A this first news confer ence,V alverde said: “We have a summer tour with games against tough teams, and the idea is to get ready for the Super Cup.”

The 53- year- old has been charged with reinvigorating a side boasting Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, but which finished second to Real Madrid in La Liga last season and lost to Juventus in the Champions League quarter- finals.

Val verde, who has a two- year contract with an option for a third, arrived from Athletic Bilbao having also coached at Valencia, V illar real, Esp anyol and Greek club Olympiakos. He will need to handle the high- pressure atmosphere at Barcelona

Valverde added: “I know that the bar has been set very high. I know the demands of this club and the challenge I face.”

While Valverde said he would“adapt” to Barcelona’ s possession style, forged under Johan Cruyff and perfected by Pep Guardiola, his Bilbao sides had anintensity in press uring the ball that Barcelona lacked last season.

DespiteBilbao’ s policy of only having players from the greater Basque Country, Val verde’ s side were four th, qualifying for the Champions League, in his first season and never finished lower than seventh.

Valverde goes from Bilbao’s homegrown s quad to Barcelona’ s collection of stars. He added: “How can I put it? Bilbao’s market for players is not the same as Barca’s but I have never met players who were born millionaires. I believe I will find a young group of players who want to win.”