Dest: 'The best has yet to come'

Sergi Roberto and Sergiño Dest have spoken to the press ahead of the first game in LaLiga. 

The former was talking to Catalan daily La Vanguardia  while the American was in conversation with ESPN. 

Here are some of the standout quotes: 

LaLiga is back

Dest: "I’m very excited about the start of the new season. Everyone wants to win LaLiga. But we’ll take things a step at a time, and that means we have to win our first game against Real Sociedad on Sunday."

Dest: "Real is a big team to start against in LaLiga. We’ll need to go out focused if we want to get the three points."

Sergi Roberto: "LaLiga looks very tight. Let’s hope we can win it."

Fans back at Camp Nou

Sergi Roberto: "Now we need to be together, we need our fans more than ever. We have not had them with us for more than a year. We need to win games and trophies and it’s easier to do that with them in the stadium."

Sergi Roberto: "We need their help, we need their support. It’s a difficult situation for all of us. The best way to get through this is by being united. LaLiga is starting and we have to win on Sunday. If they show their support, we will return that by achieving big success."

2021/22 squad

Sergi Roberto: "We have a good squad. People are going to get hooked because they’ll see how keen the team is from the first day. I can see that from the training sessions. There are players that will take a step up."

Sergi Roberto: "There are some very keen, talented youngsters coming through. Gavi, Nico, Balde, Yusuf... For various reasons they’re getting more chances than they would have done in other years and it’s recovering the idea of how good La Masia is. All these players are doing very, very well. I would ask people to get excited about them. The way they are responding at such young ages is not normal""

Life after Messi

Sergi Roberto: "Everything changes without Messi. We had the best player in the world and all attacking moves went through him. Without him, we are already working on doing different set moves."

Sergi Roberto: “We need to be more united than ever. We need to be a more compact team with and without the ball and to create attacking pressure as a unit. We need to take a new step forward, beginning with the captains, followed by the new signings and the youngsters coming through, who will need help. We have a very good squad. Looking at the squads in the first division, I’m convinced that ours is the strongest."

Dest: "We all have him in our hearts. It's Messi. It just feels weird because he played for so long at this club, almost his whole life, and suddenly he had to leave. But we have to focus on the new season. We've got some work to do because with Messi it is easier, he's the best player in the world. But I think if we play collectively and keep the chemistry high, we can achieve a lot."

Playing positions

Sergi Roberto: "This year we have two full backs and from what we’ve been doing in training and in games I can see myself in a more central position. I’d like to play there, but it’s all up to the coach." 

Dest: "Last year I played in a very attacking position up the field, but it depends on the system we play by. Of course I can do a lot to help the team up front, I like going up the wings, but also running back to defend."

Current form

Sergi Roberto: "I have worked hard all summer to be in the right shape. Last year it was all going fine until November, then I got injured and tested positive for Covid after that. Last season is something to forget."

Dest: "Every day I’m concentrating on improving and I try to stay focused every minute. My first season with Barça was a good one, but the best has yet to come."