Quique Setién, Former Barcelona coach, spoke for the first time after leaving the Barça club. The Cantabrian chose El País and Vicente del Bosque to analyze his stage as a player and coach, with special emphasis on his eight-month stay on the Camp Nou bench.
Differences between the Barcelona dressing room and the rest: “The experience at Barça has been extraordinary. I have had the opportunity to experience something unique. I told the players that I had never been in a dressing room like that, that I was with the best players in the world.”
Admiration for Messi: “I think Messi is the best of all time. There have been other great players who have been great, but the continuity that this boy has had over the years has not been had by anyone.”
Deal with Messi: “Leo is difficult to manage. Who am I to change him! If they have accepted him as he is for years and have not changed him … There is another facet that is not that of a player and is more complicated to manage. Much more. Something inherent in many athletes. You see things you don't expect. “
Messi's personality: “He's very reserved but he makes you see the things he wants. He doesn't talk much. Yes, look, look … After I left, what I am clear about is that at certain times I had to make other decisions, but there is something that remains above you: the club, and above the president, the player, the coach, the club and the fans.
Messi's role in Barcelona: “There are millions of people who think that Messi, or any other player, is more important than the club and the coach. I have had enough experience to make an accurate assessment of how this boy and the others really are.”
Generosity in teams: “That's difficult when someone has gotten used to winning. Actually, the brutal demand that exists in football today has imbued him and many others who need to win permanently. But, of course, to win you can't use everything. It is true that there are players who are not easy to manage. Among them Leo, it is true “.
Servility misunderstood to Messi: “There are times when it doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to spend it all the time. You have to make your own decisions and face responsibility.”
Eder Sarabia: “The first day I explained to the footballers what Eder was like. I told them that the first one who had to put up with him was me. He is a kid who has pure energy, who lives football with intensity, but that is how it is. change now. The day the cameras were taken out saying things, I told him I couldn't give that image. The next day I spoke to the captains and apologized to them. “
Was it yourself at Barcelona ?: “Of course not. I have not been myself. I have not been able, or I have not known, the reality is that. When you sign for a club of a dimension like Barça you already know that things are not going to be easy despite to have the best players in the world. I could have made drastic decisions, but they would not have fixed anything in a space as short as I have been. There are situations that in another context and in other circumstances I should have been different. “
2-8 against Bayern: “You are tremendously damaged, you go down in the history of Barça with that defeat. I assume my percentage of guilt- After laying down I found out that the decision had already been made before 2-8”.