HIBS skipper Rob Jones today insisted Barcelona have lost none of their mystique even although the Catalan giants will be playing Capital opposition for the second time in a year when he and his team-mates face them at Murrayfield next month.
Barca played both Hearts and Dundee United as part of their preparations for last season and will again meet the Tayside outfit and Hibs as they base themselves at St Andrews again this summer.
And, in between, the Nou Camp side have played agains
t both Celtic and Rangers in European competition.
Jones, however, dismissed any suggestion that familiarity might breed contempt, arguing that the allure of watching Barcelona's glittering array of talent will ensure another bumper crowd at the home of Scottish rugby on July 24.
The towering defender said: "The game will be a great occasion I feel for the whole of Scotland, it's a game we will certainly take very seriously as we want to do well against them but we want to enjoy it as well.
"I would not say that the occasion is diminished because Barcelona played here last year, there are a lot of people in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland who just don't get to see Barcelona that often.
"They are a side that I think most people in Edinburgh would like to see every year, regardless if it is against us or Hearts. There were a lot of neutrals at the game last year – people from Edinburgh being given a chance to watch Barcelona in their home city I think are going to very much look forward to it."
Jones is well aware that a number of Barca's stars such as Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Deco are unlikely to be with the club when they touch down in Scotland, but he believes the Catalan side will bring in big names to replace them, citing a link with Russian ace Andrei Arshavin, who has caught the eye of everyone during Euro 2008.
He said: "Barcelona will be a fantastic occasion for both the players and the supporters. It will certainly be an interesting game, I'm pretty sure of that. As I say, the boys are really looking forward to it. Personally I've never been to watch Barcelona in Spain nor do I watch Spanish football on television, and while I played against Newcastle and Tottenham when I was in England I never had the pleasure of playing against Thierry Henry – I can just hope that come the game he will have gone off after five minutes.
"It's going to be a great spectacle for everyone involved. It's great to have a team such as them in Scotland, even the players sitting on the bench or in the stand are great players. We'll be taking it very seriously, we will want to do well as in every game."
Jones, however, insisted the mouth-watering prospect of facing Barcelona must be ignored until Hibs have, hopefully, negotiated their way past Swedish side IF Elfsborg in the InterToto Cup with the first leg of their tie due to be played at Easter Road a week on Sunday.
And he revealed it wasn't hard to forget – at least for the time being – that match as he and his team-mates spent their days pounding round Hibs' training centre with Paatelainen putting his players through double training sessions on a daily basis.
He said: "You certainly don't get the opportunity to play Barcelona every day, do you? When it came out in the press that we would be playing them the boys were all given a bit of a boost, we are all looking forward to this game – I'm pretty sure that there will be very little by way of injuries that week!
"Of course in terms of importance to the club the games coming up against Elfsborg are the most important games in our pre-season, we have a group of games that will be very difficult and hopefully we will learn something from each game.
"It won't be easy, we saw Elfsborg's result against Torshavn the other day."
Hibs will be in competitive action barely a month after their final SPL match of last season but, even so, Jones believes Paatelainen's side will be ready.
He said: "You look at teams down south who have had six, seven or eight weeks off and we've had just over four as the league went on a bit longer than expected. We've had a very hard four days since returning for pre-season training but the boys are looking extremely fit and I'm sure we'll have a few more days of hard work before the football comes out – I think we've forgotten what a ball looks like.
"But it is all money in the bank as they say, we have a great togetherness and while only one new boy (David Van Zanten] has come in there were a few who came in towards the end of last season and we have a great group of lads.
"I'm sure the boss will add to that eventually but the likes of David has fitted in really well and the boys look ready to go.
"It's important to us that we put in a performance in front of our own fans a week on Sunday and hope that will be enough."
The full article contains 900 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
