Tuesday 28 April 2015 08:15, UK
Luis Enrique’s Barcelona now resemble the trophy-winning team they were three years ago, with Lionel Messi once again at the top of his game, according to the Revista de la Liga panel.
Enrique replaced previous coach Tata Martino at the Nou Camp in the summer after the club failed to win any major silverware last season.
However, the former Barca midfielder is still in with a chance of guiding the Catalans to the Treble this campaign, and by only making small changes to how the side played under the club’s most successful-ever manager Pep Guardiola.
“This is Messi’s team coached by Luis Enrique,” Spanish football expert Guillem Balague told Revista. “I remember talking to [then Barcelona sporting director] Zubi Zubizarreta at the start of the season and he said: ‘You are going to be surprised by the tactical changes that happen with this team.’
“This is now a very sharp team that looks like three years ago. What has Luis Enrique added? Fitness certainly, the rotations have been great. And he has worked really hard at direct football that they are able to apply.
“But now we have gone from Barcelona being a team that plays direct and sometimes controls, to a team that controls and plays direct when they have to. So they have just gone back to a team that suits everybody down to the ground.”
However, ex-Barcelona midfielder Gaizka Mendieta thinks Enrique should take most of the credit for how the team have performed so far this season.
“The majority of the credit goes to him,” he said. “As a manager you learn every day, and I think that is what he has done at the club since the day he has arrived. He obviously arrived with some ideas for the team that he wanted to implement.
“And he then had to deal with the Messi situation and the egos of the players, like Luis Suarez and Neymar. And he had to learn how to deal with all of them. But I think most importantly it has made him more disciplined tactically.”
Whether it is Luis Enrique’s team or Messi’s team might eventually prove to be a fine detail that will be taken up in the summer for next season
But according to Spanish football journalist Graham Hunter, when you have both an astute manager and Messi back to his very best, then it should be so surprise Barcelona are still challenging on three fronts come the end of the season.
“The sense that you very clearly get, whether it is from people in the media, players who have previously been enthralled to Messi, or fans, is of relief that Messi is at, or close to, his very best again,” Hunter said.
“That he is completely engaged, happy and fit and therefore whether it is Luis Enrique’s team or Messi’s team might eventually prove to be a fine detail that will be taken up in the summer for next season.
“Because right now, if you combine a clever coach who is on the top of his game and Messi, who is on the top of his game, then that is why they are candidates for all three trophies.”
