Touré attuned to Rubin danger

FC Barcelona midfielder Yaya Touré has promised to take the threat posed by FC Rubin Kazan extremely seriously when the UEFA Champions League holders host their Group F rivals on Tuesday.

'Very dangerous'
"The problem is that people don't know anything about Rubin Kazan and they're the type of team that can cause the most damage," Touré reminded any overconfident fans. The Russian champions prop up the section in this their maiden campaign, but they performed valiantly in their opening 3-1 loss at FC Dynamo Kyiv and held Serie A giants FC Internazionale Milano 1-1 last time out. "They played very well against Dynamo Kyiv," added Touré. "We have to be very concentrated because Russian clubs are very dangerous."

Future tests
The Ivorian international is also eager for Barça to propel themselves towards qualification as soon as possible, given that they face some testing matches further down the line. "It's going to be important to win tomorrow so that we can feel more confident in the Champions League," explained the 26-year-old, who has first-hand experience of eastern European football from his year-and-a-half with Ukrainian outfit FC Metalurh Donetsk. "We have to bear in mind that it's going to be very cold for our away games with Dynamo and Rubin, and both are tough grounds. But we have a good enough squad to be able to win there."

Valencia result
Touré and his team-mates experienced a slight bump in the road when their perfect start to the Liga season ended with a goalless draw at Valencia CF on Saturday, but the holding player refused to read anything negative into that result. "It's difficult to win a league match after an international week because players get very tired," he said. "But we're professionals and we have to work hard. Against Valencia it wasn't easy at all because they're great rivals. The first half was especially hard for us. Now we have to work hard and move on because we're facing a team that also wants to beat us. There are lots of matches ahead of us this season and the coach [Josep Guardiola] tells us to keep going; he's cheering us on."