With the club turned upside down economically and sportingly, Sergi Barjuan faces his second meeting as Barcelona’s interim manager, waiting for Xavi to leave Qatar’s Al-Saad at the end of this week. “1,000 coaches would like to be in my position, it is an honor and pride for me to be the coach of the first team. I will try to do my best so that the players believe in themselves ”, resolved the Barça coach. But he does not have much margin of error because the duel in Ukraine is capital for the Barça team, since a setback could leave him out of the Champions League before time.
Thus, Barça is measured with Dynamo Kiev at home with the obligation to prevail. “These players are used to playing under pressure and in any setting. They are trained ”, agreed Barjuan. This is how Eric García saw it: “We all know how important the game is and it will be complicated by the trip, the temperature we will find and the rival. But we are mentally and physically prepared to win ”. It happens, however, that the speech is repeated during the course because it was also given with Koeman at the head of the bench, but the team did not finish carbure, also at the equator of the league table.
Barjuan adds just three training sessions with the group and he already has his proposal clear. “Little can be changed at this time, but my demand is that they be intense and orderly because they have talent. Everyone knows the importance of this game, although it should not be played with anguish. We have to be us “, agreed the coach, who added:” Barça has the obligation to always win. And in weak moments like now, it is difficult to find smiles in the dressing room, so the only way to make ourselves respect is to keep winning. The joy is finding our style. We want to play like this, being dominant, being together in possession and loss, and find the opponent’s holes. Work leads you to achieve good things and that is joy ”.
The Barça coach, in any case, does not see defects in the team. “I have not seen any lack of anything and there are players, like the captains, with a lot of experience who contribute more than the youngsters as is normal. But the mix is very good. Of course, we have pushed them with being ordered, with being the Barça we want ”. Eric García agreed: “We have a very competitive team, but the results are not being what we wanted. With the brushstrokes of Sergi, how to try not to break the matches so much, and the confidence that good results give, we will grow ”. And he added: “The team is fine. We are motivated and confident because we know that sooner or later this will change. With the quality of my teammates we will get out of this. ” But the clock is ticking and there can be, at least in Europe, another fiasco.
Return of Ansu and Dembélé
Although he had been training with the team for a couple of weeks, Dembélé returns to a call-up after five months in the infirmary, because in the last European Championship he suffered a disinsertion of the biceps tendon in his right knee that made him go through the operating room. “He has been away for many months and it is appreciated that he wants to be with the team at such an important moment,” Barjuan resolved. “Recovering players is good for the competition and that they are decisive footballers is good for the group,” he added. Araujo and De Jong also joined the list and with the medical discharge in hand, also Ansu Fati after overcoming discomfort in his right knee.
“Ansu and Dembélé are differential and create danger at all times. I don’t know what they will be able to play, but that they are back with us is very important ”, Eric García complimented them. Barjuan picked up the baton: ”All those summoned can play, although the rhythm is gained by playing. It is a very important game for them, for the club and you have to give the most of the minutes that are played ”.
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