Real Sociedad vs Barcelona - Enrique plays down Barca's poor record at Sociedad

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique played down his club's poor recent record at Real Sociedad ahead of Sunday's trip to the Anoeta.

The Catalan side have not won a league match at the Anoeta since May 2007, under the guidance of Frank Rijkaard, and have lost on the last four occasions.

Enrique, speaking at his pre-match press conference on Saturday lunchtime, said: "I'm not interested (in the past record).

"What happened in previous years has nothing to do with what's happening (on Sunday). I look positively with this team and we're looking forward to winning (on Sunday) at the Anoeta."

Barca will be aiming to close the gap on leaders Real Madrid, who opened up a five-point advantage last weekend with a 3-0 derby victory at Atletico Madrid while Enrique's side were held 0-0 at home by Malaga.

But he knows Sociedad, led by former Barca midfielder and assistant coach Eusebio Sacristan, will be no pushovers. Eusebio's men head into the weekend in fifth spot and full of confidence on the back of a four-match winning streak.

"I don't know any ground in LaLiga that's easy," Enrique said. "They're all difficult, away trips are always difficult. Certain conditions influence things. This is a game against a very good team, very attractive opponents, and a good coach with attacking ideas. I can only congratulate Eusebio on what he's doing with his team.

"We all know what a good manager he is. I've been on the same part of the coaching staff as him. I know how well prepared he is. He has 100 per cent Barca ideas. He knows exactly what he likes to get out of his teams.

"I think they'll stay 100 per cent faithful to their idea of playing attacking football. But I think they'll also draw back strongly to stop us from doing things."

Enrique was tight-lipped over the future of Lionel Messi, whose talks over a new contract have apparently stalled.

"We all know how much media there is about Messi," the Barca boss said of the Argentina forward, whose current deal expires in summer 2018.

"We all know what he means to Catalonia, what he means to Barcelona. But I'm sure Messi, when he considers everything, will give the correct information. There's really nothing I can say. Of course I'd love him to finish his career here."

Messi's fellow frontman Neymar travels to San Sebastian on four yellow cards, and therefore one booking away from missing next weekend's Clasico against Real Madrid through suspension, but Enrique does not anticipate the Brazilian changing his style, saying: "I don't think he'll play differently at all."

Barca remain without midfielder Andres Iniesta (knee) and defenders Samuel Umtiti (hamstring) and Jeremy Mathieu (calf). Midfielder Arda Turan and right-back Aleix Vidal also miss out, the former due to a fever and the latter having been given time off training this week to deal with what Enrique described as "personal issues".

Like Enrique, Sociedad coach Eusebio vowed at his pre-match press conference that his team would not be distracted by past events in the fixture.

"We must exploit our virtues to the maximum against Barca," he said on Friday. "We must focus on this game, never on the statistics of the past."

He added: "Barca this year have had new additions and their adaptation to the style requires time. They are still in the beginning.

"They will want to change this bad run in Anoeta."