Lucho is capable of landing a blow for bruised Barcelona
THE theory of Luis Enrique’s appointment at Barcelona is that the club moves from carping to carpe diem. From the moment when Pep Guardiola looked in his players’ eyes and no longer saw the spark of inspiration, after Chelsea knocked them out of the 2012 Champions League semi-final, the dominant ‘feel’ has been of a squad which is tired of being in harness.
Guardiola knew his stars were tired of him and his relentless demands, Lionel Messi and David Villa moaned at each other during Tito Vilanova’s reign and Tata Martino was carped at by players who wanted to influence the training regime, the team tactics, plus the local media who never warmed to the easy-going Argentinian.
With Luis ‘Lucho’ Enrique things will be different. Firstly, although his ferocious reputation is slightly over-egged, there won’t be too many who risk moaning at him when the going gets tough. Which it will.
Secondly, the Asturian whose nickname ‘Lucho’ means ‘the fighter’, will expect his seizethe-day attitude to be fully contagious. Those who don’t get it won’t get game time. Whoever they are.
This week, he pointed out that: ‘Away from the matches, I’m going to remind all my players that being a football professional is the best thing there is. A player’s career is short and I’m going to emphasise to them that they should squeeze the absolute maximum out of every single day while they are one.’
That Luis Enrique builds a podium up on some scaffolding so that he can watch training from an elevation of about 20ft up is now famous. But it’s an indication of how seriously he takes the daily work which, if done properly, can lead to the kind of intensity, stamina, pressing and mental freshness which Barcelona have notably been missing.
He’s true to his life philosophy, this guy — always has been. Although he was thriving at Real Madrid he actively chose to shun a career with Los Blancos in order to join Barcelona. At the time, in 1996, there was a driving need for the Blaugrana to hire a superstar, preferably one robbed from their bitter enemies, because the Nou Camp hierarchy were foolishly and controversially in the process of sacking Johan Cruyff.
But for Luis Enrique it was a labour of love, not just a wage rise, which drove his change of direction. Of all the ‘foreign’ players who have performed for Barcelona in living memory, only Hristo Stoichkov competes with the passion which ‘Lucho’ feels for the Catalans and the degree to which he adores ‘sticking it’ to Madrid.
I say ‘foreigners’ because this rampaging midfielder is from Asturias — David Villa country, not Catalunya. Yet Luis Enrique is at least as much a ‘ Culé’ as Xavi or Gerard Piqué — perhaps more so. He wanted to play for Barcelona — so he did.
When he quit as a player, his seize-the-day mentality was also in evidence. He took to running, hit marathons, strode through triathlons and iron-man contests and then opted for the shredding experience of running 260km across the Sahara in six days — the Marathon of the Sands. For the bravest and the craziest.
Now, here he is. Unveiled on a grubby May day this week.
‘It might be cloudy here but there’s a great big round ball of sun with a smile on its face outside my house,’ he said.
The 42-year-old coach has, I think, just a slightly mis-represented reputation for being a barking, stentorian dressing-room dictator.
His rules are clearly defined, he’ll be demanding, no question, and those who defy him won’t be pampered. But there’s much more to him than that.
‘My first task will be to get to know the players’ personalities and then to understand how to manage the various egos,’ he said. ‘Being coach of Barcelona, any major club really, isn’t just a case of picking the best XI, it’s about knowing how to motivate, how to command respect.’
There will be brand values of the Lucho era. He’s quick to trust young players. The drought of promoted talent under Martino will end.
It’s good news for Gerard Deulofeu, Rafinha, Sergi Roberto, Adama Traore and even the 18-year-old prodigy who’s already skipped a grade this year — Munir El Haddadi.
Barcelona now have a coach who matches intensity of work ethic with Guardiola and Atletico’s Diego Simeone. The budget indicates he’ll be given new playing resources — ready to be moulded by the new boss.
He’ll tell them one main thing: Seize the day.