BARCELONA COACH TITO VILANOVA believes Real Madrid are not brave enough to blood youngsters in the first team.

Jose Mourinho has come under scrutiny recently for ignoring the Madrid youth academy after playing Michael Essien at left-back as opposed to Nacho, who came through the Santiago Bernabeu ranks.

Vilanova, who has previously worked at Barca’s La Masia academy, believes that giving youngsters a chance in the first team is a matter of courage.

“Controversy in Madrid about lack of academy players? I only know how we work. It’s also a matter of courage to give them chances,” he told reporters.

Vilanova went on to dismiss rumours that he might look to sell out-of-form forward Alexis Sanchez in the January transfer window.

“Alexis is doing what I ask of him. If he doesn’t reach the level we expect, it will also be because I cannot get the best out of him.

“Nobody will leave in January. We have six attackers, all give us something different, and that’s perfect. We want to keep them all.”

Vilanova is hoping for an open game when Barca host Celta de Vigo in La Liga on Saturday.

Celta may be down in 13th, but they’ve conceded the same number of goals as leaders Barca.

They’ve also scored just 10 goals in nine games, 19 less than the Catalan outfit.

“Celta play the way they can according to their players and we prefer this kind of opponent,” Vilanova said.

“Teams that want to create chances and who prefer not to stay back and counter attack.

“Hopefully this won’t be Celta, according to what I’ve seen so far, and therefore for the fans it ought to be a better game.”

Vilanova’s team have dropped just two points in the first nine matches of the season, as they look to recapture their La Liga title.

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