Valverde talks Dembele, Suarez and Harry Kane ahead of Spurs

The latest from the Barcelona boss

Ernesto Valverde has been talking ahead of Tuesday’s final Champions League group game against Tottenham at Camp Nou.

The Barcelona boss was unsurprisingly asked about Ousmane Dembele, talked about the type of team he might put out and the threat posed by striker Harry Kane.

Here are the best bits:

Valverde on Harry Kane

He’s a great, extraordinary forward on a global level. He can shoot, he’s good in the air and makes the difference in the box. You can’t give him any space, not one metre.

Valverde on Dembele being late for training

It’s true that something happened but we will try to resolve it internally. I don’t have anything else to say. We will try to help the player because he has a lot of talent and we want to help him.

He’s a player that gives us a lot on the pitch but here here we have behaviour-based rules which are the same for everyone. These circumstances come up throughout a season. Sometimes with one player, sometimes another. What we try to do is help the players because we want them to help us.

Valverde on team selection

There are sure to be rotations tomorrow; we just had a big game on Saturday. Every game is an opportunity to show what you’re capable of doing.We’re expecting a tough game against a very strong side, who have qualification for the next stage at stake. We’ll be going for the win.

Players need rest and we had a tough match last Saturday, Spurs are going to bring their best players, not necessarily something that we can do. The players have some discomfort so I have to take that into account.

Valverde on Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi

After being without him [Messi] for several games I don’t know if we’ll have him out there for two games in three days. But Luis Suarez is definitely not going to play.

Valverde on Philippe Coutinho

The players’ form goes up and down all season. When Luis Suarez wasn’t scoring the questions were about him non-stop.

Philippe is very important for us. He played in the second half the other night and is another option. We want to support him to give us the best he can, as he is a decisive player.

Source: barcablaugranes.com