Champions League

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Oct 2, 2012 at 7.45pm UK

Benfica
0-2
Barcelona

Tito Vilanova: 'Pressure growing to continue Barca success'

By Liam Power, Reporter | 02 October 2012

Tito Vilanova admits that teams are starting to work out ways to deal with Barcelona's style of play and thinks that they must stay focused to maintain their strong start to the season.

Tito Vilanova has admitted that achieving results consistently is becoming more difficult for Barcelona as teams come up with new ways to combat the Catalan giants.

Barca travel to Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday, after overcoming Sevilla 3-2 in a bruising encounter thanks to an injury-time winner from David Villa.

Vilanova thinks that Barca must stay focused to maintain their strong form after starting La Liga with a 100% record.

He told reporters at a pre-match press conference: "You can also see that nothing is easy. Sometimes we underestimate other teams, but we saw how good Sevilla really were.

"We're always the ones to beat and it's becoming increasingly difficult because other teams know how we play.

"It's an important week because we're playing big teams: Sevilla, Benfica and Madrid, but it's not key. Unless something big happens, titles are always decided later on."

Barca face the sternest test of their credentials under Vilanova this week when they follow up a trip to Lisbon with the resumption of hostilities with Real Madrid on Sunday, October 7.