Jose Morais is viewing Sunday's trip to Derby County as the biggest game of his managerial career and says the build-up reminds him of being involved with some of the biggest occasions in world football.
The Portuguese head coach won the Champions League as well as the Spanish and Italian titles while an assistant to Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan and Real Madrid. But he says the queues outside the Oakwell ticket office this week – leading to a 3,000 sell-out of the away end – have given him the same feeling of anticipation ahead of Sunday's 12.30pm match.
After moving out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over Brentford in their final home game on Saturday, the Reds can secure their safety with another victory at sixth-placed Derby. Barnsley could still stay up with a draw or defeat, depending on Burton Albion and Bolton Wanderers' results.
Morais told the Chronicle: "It is one of the biggest games of my life. At the moment, it is the biggest game. I have had fantastic and great moments in my life, but that is in the past and I am looking at this game. It is a fantastic possibility that we have in front of us, we want to enjoy it.
"I saw a very interesting image this week. It was a line of people waiting for tickets. It was incredible because these are the same queues I have been seeing in big clubs when they have really big matches coming up. I could feel the love of the people who are supporting us. I could feel the belief of the people who want to go to the last game. It made me really want to win for them, even more than before. If I could give all the fans tickets to the last game, I would buy them.
"They have the same feeling that I have that everything is possible and, with their support and positive energy, I think we can make great things happen. I know the fans will stand behind the team in the 90 minutes whatever will happen."
After Paul Heckingbottom moved to Leeds United in February, Morais was brought in with the remit of keeping Barnsley in the Championship. He is confident he will achieve that, saying: "I really believe that we can do it, we have it in our hands. May everybody believe and, with a little bit of help from God, we can stay up. This is what the players, the fans, the board all want.
"It would be a fantastic achievement in my career but it would not only be because of me, it will be an achievement of a group of people who believed until the end. The confidence exists among the players, we have been increasing it since we came and things are happening. The players are committed, they have will and they want to achieve the goal of the club which is to stay in the Championship."
Barnsley could have already been down if they had lost to Brentford on Saturday and Bolton had won at Burton. But both games finished in 2-0 home wins which moved the Reds out of the bottom three. Barnsley's victory was their second at home under Morais and their fifth at Oakwell in 23 league games this season.
Morais said: "It was a big lift. Every time you win is a big lift for the players, fans and the club. It was one of the proudest moments that I had in my life in Barnsley. The players wanted to reward the fans with a win in our last game at Oakwell and I was very proud of the team. The way we performed against Brentford was something I was expecting to happen many more times than has happened.
"We have deserved to win more than just two home games while I was here. I have always known the will and quality of the players but for some reason it doesn't come out until now. The shadow of negativity I found here has vanished and we can perform in a positive way and believe in ourselves. We have not made the fans happy as often as we want to but we want to give everything for them."
