Luis Enrique calm, and still confident

‘Saddened’ by the injury to Lionel Messi, the coach’s confidence in his team shows no signs of wavering

Although FC Barcelona defeated Las Palmas 2–1 at Camp Nou on Saturday, the news of the day, both on the field and in the pressroom, was the injury to Leo Messi.

Asked about what it will mean to be playing without the four-time Ballon d’Or winner, Barça head coach Luis Enrique Martínez wanted to reassure the fans.

"Whenever there is an injury it is sad and unpleasant. If it’s an injury to Leo Messi, even more so...But we're a team and I’m convinced that we’ll overcome it," the coach declared. “It’s a test and another point of motivation for our team. We get to see what we’re made of, and I have no doubt that we’ll be okay...We’re used to getting through tough times and now we have improve the things that are under our control."

Luis Enrique also talked about whether, in Messi’s absence, the team has to change their system of play. "Barça will not play differently without Leo,” the coach said sharply. “There were things he could take care of himself and now, simply, we have to strengthen our play as a group."

About the game

Messi’s injury put the result of the game on the backburner. Nevertheless, Luis Enrique said, "We played a pretty complete game and had lots of chances to put it away." But he still regretted that "as has been happening recently, we haven’t been generating too many occasions and that’s a cause for a bit of dissatisfaction, even more so when the other team scores on a fluke play. That makes the game much tougher, especially the last five minutes."

Source: http://ift.tt/1QFjane