Barcelona coach Luis Enrique says his side must not take any notice of the euphoria among Blaugrana fans and pundits ahead of Sunday's La Liga Clasico at home to Real Madrid.
Barca come into the game having won 16 of their last 17 matches in all competitions, having impressively eased past English champions Manchester City in the Champions League, and with talisman Lionel Messi looking back to his very best form.
The mood is less upbeat at Madrid, with coach Carlo Ancelotti and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo both being questioned widely, and the team having already lost away in 2015 at Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao.
Asked by a particularly optimistic reporter at the pregame news conference if Barca were thinking of repeating the 5-0 manita victory of November 2011, the Luis Enrique was quick to try to dampen such talk.
"We will not fall in the trap of thinking it will be easy," he said. "We need to be fully serious and professional, to know we will suffer at some times in defence, for sure. I do not pay attention to rumours or non-football related issues.
"But we do analyse Real Madrid, their potential, their players, the current Champions League holders, leaders of La Liga for a long time. To win the game we must be at our best, we must be very solid in defence, and effective in attack."
Luis Enrique did however accept that he was happy to be coming into the game with his side having played very well in recent games.
"We all want to be in good form all season, but at certain moments that is not the case," he said. "Such runs do not go on forever. But as a coach I would prefer to arrive in the game in this situation, a positive situation.
"We must prepare for a game of maximum intensity, in which we will suffer in some parts, as the opponent has a lot of quality."
The apparent poor form of Madrid's strikeforce of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo was not something he was trusting to continue.
"Any of Madrid's players up front, Bale, Benzema or Cristiano, are players with individual quality to decide a game," he said. "They are three of the best players in the world in that position. They are dangerous for any team, regardless of the form they might be in."
However, he said Messi's ability to control the pace and direction of games made him a much better all-round player than any rival.
"Maybe in some moments we can see players playing at high-levels, and they seem similar to Leo," he said. "But what makes him different is how he can read the game, interpret the play, know what the team needs, whether that is give an assist, slow it down, come back to defend. Then there are his unique numbers as a goalscorer."
The Asturian coach was more careful with his words when asked if midfielder Sergio Busquets, who has been out since March 4 with an ankle ligament injury, had recovered sufficiently to feature against Madrid.
"Busquets is very good, not 100 percent yet, which is logical," Luis Enrique said. "He has trained with the group these last three days, and had done his recovery work before. He is not at his best, but he is with us, which is important."
Asked about persistent rumours in the Madrid media that Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti could lose his job should the game go badly for his side, Luis Enrique said all coaches were under pressure to get results, but Sunday's game would not decide anything.
"All coaches are always under microscope, in all countries, with all teams," he said. "We all know what defeats mean for our jobs. In the world of football there is constant risk.
"This is a different game to others, because it is against the eternal rivals, who are closest to us in the table. But there will be nine games still to play afterwards, difficult games against other teams, so [Sunday's game] is important but not decisive."