Former Barcelona manager on working with Lionel Messi: “A player you know is going to give everything” | OneFootball

Former Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde did not really have a pleasant time in Catalonia.

During his two-and-a-half-year stint with the club, the current Athletic Bilbao coach did win back-to-back La Liga titles but it said that he never really had a firm hold of the locker room.

The 59-year-old’s Barcelona stint was marked by four trophies but he is largely remembered as someone who was beaten by AS Roma and Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League.

At the same time, his rift with Lionel Messi also defined his future and this is exactly what he talked about in his recent interview. While speaking about the former Barcelona captain, Valverde said,

“Well, great. Messi? I don’t know. You’ve seen him play, right? Well, what am I going to tell you that you don’t know?” he said, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.

“Look, when you go to a club like that it’s easier if you assume who you’re going to work with. It’s true that you have to take into account who is who. Messi is a player who you know is going to give you everything,” he explained.

Valverde reminisces Barcelona experience

The former Barça coach also spoke about the difficulties he faced at the club. He said that it wasn’t easier for him to get the hold of the players of Messi’s stature.

“In my case, I tried to get there, adapt to that new situation and make the best decisions. Which in the end is what a coach has to do.

“In the beginning, I remember It wasn’t easy to adapt to that way of training, to adapt to another way of doing things and, well, little by little we did our best, of course,” he added.

Ernesto Valverde with Lionel Messi (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

The 59-year-old also said that his tenure was not only about the two eliminations he faced in the UEFA Champions League. However, the major revelation he made was the fact that some people at Barcelona strongly advised him to have a few people on his side.

“Look, that’s nonsense (referring to just being remembered for two games and not for their achievements. I don’t know if I should say this either. There are people who are there in Barcelona already warned me that it is important when you arrive at Barça to have a lobby,” he revealed.

Lastly, he also admitted that succeeding someone like Luis Enrique was a big task in itself.

“I arrived after a great coach like Luis Enrique, with a certain team, Neymar left, I tried to do the best I could, adapt to the situation and things went well for me. No, sorry: they went very well, very well.”