Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has attempted to take the sting out out of the fallout from their Copa del Rey win over Espanyol.

Valverde has played down the controversy surrounding statements made by several of his players after the derby victory over Espanyol, merely insisting that the rivalry is the way it is between the two clubs.

The teams are set to clash once more on February 4 in LaLiga, and it's likely tempers will be running high after Espanyol launched a formal complaint against both Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets for comments they considered to be incendiary and verging on the xenophobic.

"It's Espanyol against Barcelona, we're not going to deny it, it's like that," he explained in his pre-match press conference.

"Espanyol's complaint came within the confines of a derby.

"Some will find the complaint excessive and others will say Pique shouldn't say what he did, I simply hope to move on."