Mourinho was once on the coaching staff at Barca but the Portuguese is expecting a hostile reception at the Nou Camp after becoming, in his words, a "persona non grata" for the home faithful.

Mourinho crossed swords with the Catalan club while in charge of Chelsea, but it was last season when he really upset the Barca supporters whilst denying them the chance to go to the Champions League final at the Bernabeu - home of Real Madrid.

He was in charge of the Inter Milan side who, having won the first leg of their semi-final 3-1 at the San Siro, dumped out reigning European champions Barca after a backs-to-the-wall 1-0 defeat at the Nou Camp when the Italians played for over an hour with a man fewer.

Now Mourinho is in charge of Barca's sworn enemies Madrid, and he has enjoyed a hugely impressive start to life in the hotseat with 15 wins and four draws from his opening 19 competitive matches in charge.

That has left them top of the Primera Division standings - one point clear of Barca - and through to the last 16 of both the Champions League and Copa del Rey.

Putting one over Mourinho would no doubt please many Barca supporters, some of whom disparagingly refer to the Portuguese as 'the translator' having held that role alongside Bobby Robson at the Nou Camp in the 1990s, but for Puyol his side do not need any more reasons for wanting to down Madrid.

"We don't need any extra motivation. Beating Madrid is always important, these are games that you want to play, against our biggest rivals, we don't need anything more," he said.

"It's not (a match) with Mourinho, it's against Madrid. We aren't playing against Mourinho, it's a special game against a team with great players and a great coach, but it's Barca-Madrid."

When asked if he thought Mourinho would employ a similar system to the one he used with Inter at the Nou Camp earlier this year, Puyol was quoted as saying in AS: "A league game is always different to a knock-out tie. I don't know how they'll play, but I know how we'll play.

"The style is not going to change, we are prepared for anything. We are up against a good team, with great players who if they have space are difficult to control.

"They (Madrid) are a team who are very strong defensively, who get back very well and on the counter they have very fast players who can make the difference. They are a very complete team."

Regarding his side, Spain international Puyol, who has played in 22 Clasicos against Madrid, said: "We are in a good moment, with confidence and few injuries. It will be a good game."