Top ten quotes from Luis Enrique's Barça TV interview
The manager spoke in depth with the club media and we pick some standout comments in which Leo Messi, Aleix Vidal and Paco Alcácer are amomg the names mentioned
- “We have a nice Liga challenge ahead of us. We’re six points behind Real Madrid, so let’s see if we can sort the situation out. This is a team that thrives on big challenges. Although we have won lots of trophies in recent times, they’re never easy. But we have to win titles because we play the best football and have the clearest ideas about the way we should play. Over the course of a season, that produces returns”.
- “If I didn’t feel that I was helping my team and my players, and didn’t feel that very clearly, then I wouldn’t be coaching.”
- “I feel that I have a unique set of players, and I have a lot of solutions, which means I can rotate. That will really start to show at the end of the season. All I can say to Barça fans is that we are hungrier than ever right now”.
- “When we came to Barça one of our first targets was to make the team less predictable. That’s not easy with a team that plays for possession. But Barça have many other resources to draw on now.”
- “Aleix Vidal has played less because of a decision I made after the first few games. Aleix is one of the nicest lads in the team and creates a great atmosphere among the players, and it was a nice surprise to see him do so well against Borussia Mönchengladbach. If he carries on like that, he’ll get more chances”.
- “Paco Alcácer was getting chances to score but people started putting pressure on him and that made him uneasy. As a coach, my job is to calm him down. He can score goals. And although I don’t know when, I know he will”.
- “The other day I was watching a positional exercise and thought “if I had been in this team, I wouldn’t have played a single minute.” I was a midfielder and played with two wide wingers, but this is a much more creative Barça. I’m lucky I wasn’t born into this era”.
- “Messi can play where he wants. He could play in midfield, but that means defending as well, and it would be ridiculous to wear him out by making him track back. It’s also ridiculous to compare him with other players, both past and present. Not to disrespect anyone, but there is nothing to be said on the matter. For a player to do what he does in this era, there are no words. There won’t ever be another player like him”.
- “Messi knows that the players around him make him better, he has always said that. But we all know that he’s the number one”.
- “I have no doubt that I am at the best club, with the best team and the best players. I have my family here and am having a lot of fun. But there is a tougher part of this job, and I’ll have to think hard about future seasons. I have time, and the club has always supported me, and we will keep planning for the immediate future. I know that if it’s not here, it won’t be anywhere”.