Braithwaite excited to play with Suárez

FC Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite has spoken to Goal.com about his and the team’s experiences during lockdown and his thoughts going into a week when football finally returns:

Liga restart

"My feeling is that the whole team is hungry to get started … I think it has been positive for us all to have time to think, but now we are all raring to go again.” 

Personal feelings

"I feel fine. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. It makes we wake up every morning wanting to be a better player.”

Lockdown

"It was like being in a film because I’ve never experienced anything like that before. It was a very strange situation for me. I try to take positives out of the negatives. The important thing was getting time with the family. My wife was pregnant and I was able to be with her for the birth, so there were lots of positive things. I started baking bread and things I’d never done before and that I’m sure I’ll never do again now life is getting back to normal."

Leo Messi

“He gives so much confidence to the team because he can make the difference and also helped me personally to be a better player with his advice and how he sees football. He is really an inspiration."

Luis Suárez

“I am so happy that Luis is back because when I came here he was injured and I haven't played with him. I want to learn from him, he is one of the best strikers in the world and I am happy he is back.”

New at Barça

“The training is totally different to what I was used to so I can feel I am developing a lot in the technical level. As a human I can feel I have more attention in such a big club like this but you must learn to live with all this attention:”

“I am playing for the biggest team in the world, but at the end of the day, it’s still football. Of course competing for titles is very different to battling against relegation, so the mentality is very different.”

"As I speak French I tend to mix with the French players. And I am always close to Frenkie De Jong.” 

The fans

“If I’m popular at Camp Nou it’s because I don’t try to be a different person or footballer. I always try to be myself.”