Valencia coach Marcelino has told his players not to get caught up in Barcelona's "provocations".

Valencia meet Barca on Thursday night in the second-leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal, trailing by Luis Suarez's goal.

"We all know each other and we must know how the rival plays," said Marcelino.

"We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted by our opponents, moving away from football. We must not fall into provocations."

Lionel Messi was rested for most of the Catalan derby against Espanyol on Sunday and Marcelino recognises that Barcelona are a different team without the Argentine.

"Valencia and other teams face a Barcelona with Messi or a Barcelona without Messi," he said. "They have fewer resources without Messi, it's obvious.

"They have a lot of enthusiasm in the latter stages of competitions, and I also think they respect us very much as they made five changes [against Espanyol].

"We will face the best Barcelona team and that will give us more motivation."