Valverde talks Messi, Ansu and Dembele

Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images

The latest from the Barcelona boss

Ernesto Valverde has spoken to the press ahead of Saturday’s trip to Granada in La Liga.

The Barcelona boss talked about Ousmane Dembele, Lionel Messi and the possibility of Ansu Fati being called up by Spain for the Under-17 World Cup.

Here are the main talking points:

Valverde on Dembele

He has not yet trained with the group but today we hope he will return to full training. So far they [Dembele and Ansu] have not trained together. There is competition in the team and it will stay that way. It is a matter we will answer over time.

Valverde on Ansu Fati’s Spain call-up

Let’s see if they call him up. They need to do paperwork and we’ll see.

It would be a setback because he’s giving us a lot. If it had happened in this run of games it would have been an even bigger setback, but we’ll wait and see what happens.

Valverde on Messi

He played well against Dortmund, despite having been out for a while and the difficulty of the game. We hope that with the accumulation of minutes and games he will get up to speed and will give us results. His presence changes things in the attack. We will see who will play against Granada.

Valverde on Granada

It’s a difficult game for us. Above all, because we haven’t won our two away games in LaLiga. We can’t slip up. When we are away from home, our level of effectiveness and possession decrease. It is costing us in that we are not getting the results we expect when playing away. We must be more decisive.

Valverde on Junior Firpo

The injury to Jordi Alba means that Junior Firpo has a good opportunity tomorrow against Granada. It’s certainly a great test now Alba is injured, he will have to seize the opportunity.

Source: barcablaugranes.com