Kluivert's Barça quest

Missing out on the UEFA Champions League this season may have been a disappointment for FC Barcelona, but the club's Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert is still eager for success. Kluivert will be writing a regular diary piece for uefa.com as Barça challenge for honours.

By Patrick Kluivert

We begin our UEFA Cup campaign this week in Slovakia against SKM Púchov and I hope it will be the beginning of a long and successful campaign for Barça. Each season we have high hopes of success in Europe, but perhaps this year more than ever we know we must do well because of the disappointments of recent seasons.

Nothing to lose
We will be expected to win in Slovakia because of the size and reputation of the two clubs but it is very important for us to respect them. They have nothing to lose in this situation but they will have their fans behind them and this can be a powerful combination. I have lost count of the number of times I have played against teams who perform above themselves when they are written off and we must be very careful not to give them any hope once the match begins.

Solid base
For Barça, though, confidence is good right now. We know we should have beaten Club Atlético Osasuna at the Nou Camp this weekend [in a 1-1 draw] but we are still unbeaten in the Primera División this season and that is positive for us. The longer you can avoid defeat in every competition, especially at the start of the season, the better the team feels. We know we must improve if we are to challenge for trophies but I think we have now a solid base for the rest of the season.

Barren patch
I have not yet scored for Barça this season but I will let other people worry about that. Of course, as a striker I must be judged one day by the goals I score but it is only four league games this year without a goal and that is not a big deal. If it was ten games then maybe I would be anxious but not right now. The trouble only begins if you start to believe you will never score again.

Team effort
It is also not a problem because we have many players capable of getting goals in this team. When you have players like Ronaldinho and Javier Saviola, it is obvious we have many opportunities to score goals and it is never important who does so as long as the team secures the victory.

Hard call
At this stage there are so many teams in the UEFA Cup, that it is impossible to say which club are the favourites. Then there are also the teams knocked out of the UEFA Champions League to consider later on, so the job now is to stay in the competition and worry about the rest later.

Potential winners
Last season I felt we produced some of our best performances in Europe rather than in domestic competition. I cannot explain why but I know Barça always feel comfortable playing in Europe and I hope this will continue because the UEFA Cup is important to the club and the fans. It is no secret we have the talent to do very well this season, perhaps to go all the way to the final, but it is up to the players to make this a reality.