Valverde talks Griezmann, Messi and new signings ahead of Eibar

The latest from the Barcelona boss

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has faced the press ahead of his team’s final La Liga game of the season on Sunday against Eibar.

The 55-year-old talked about the season as a whole, a potential move for Antoine Griezmann, Lionel Messi and the Copa del Rey final.

Here are the best bits:

Valverde on Eibar

Last week Getafe had to put everything into trying to qualify for the Champions League. Eibar have nothing at stake particularly but they are always an intense team to play against and have good pace. We want a game like that because we want to keep competing and we only have a week before the cup final. It’s good practice for us, Eibar won’t relax, they will want to end the season on a high at home.

Valverde on Griezmann

We always say the same, he’s a player who is at a different club. Who knows? He’s a great player, I’ve never denied that. If he came you would see [how we would fit in], but we’re talking about an assumption, a player who might come, who could be here.

Valverde on new signings

I don’t know how many signings there could be. That’s an internal matter. There are other parties involved that also have an opinion. The club’s idea, the coach’s idea is just to make the best team we possibly can by taking into consideration the strengths and weaknesses we have at the moment.

Valverde on rotation against Eibar

Our idea is to keep active. We don’t want the cup final to be too far away from the other games. We want to keep our rhythm going, so I want the players to play who are going to play in the final, more or less.

Valverde on Barcelona’s season

It’s been a very good season, that’s the reality. If you’d asked me 15 days ago you would agree it’s been extraordinary. Things have got broken a bit, well a lot, by the way we went out of the Champions League, but we won the Super Cup, we won the league with three games in hand, and we’ve got the cup final to come as well. We got as far as May still in contention of winning all three trophies, that was our target at the start of the season, but when you lose like we did that does hit you very hard.

Valverde on Lionel Messi

Leo’s fine. Better every day, let’s not forget the days after going out of a tournament you are going to find it difficult. They are not a team that’s used to losing, but they are getting their spirits back and looking forward to playing in the cup final, Leo as much as anyone else.

Source: barcablaugranes.com