Luis Enrique hails wing attacks as key to win at Sporting

Luis Enrique hails wing attacks as key to win at Sporting

Speaking after the 5-0 win in his native Gijón, the FC Barcelona manager stresses the importance of using the width of the pitch and singles out Sergi Roberto for particular praise in that department

FC Barcelona scored five away from home for the second time in a row, this time at Sporting Gijón with goals from Suárez, Rafinha, Arda and Neymar (2). Three of those came from moves down the wing, and that was something that Luis Enrique was keen to highlight after the game, along with a fantastic performance form right-back Sergi Roberto.

Here’s the pick of the quotes from the Barça manager’s post-match press conference:

"We did well early on, we were creating scoring chances and had put together a good lead by the break"

"At the start of the second half we weren’t managing the ball right. Games are not over at 2-0 at Sporting could have got back into it after the break. But I’m delighted with the way the team played, it’s just that I wasn’t too happy with the way we began the second half.”

"The result doesn’t reflect what happened. It looks like it was an easy win but Sporting played an intense game, they prevented our attacking moves from flowing for most of the first half. We were weak at the start of the second half and weren’t able to kill the game – the red card changed everything and from then on we were able to score another three.”

"You can play the ball though the middle but it depends a lot on your freshness and the quality of your football because there are always lots of opponents gathered there. It’s much easier to get the ball out wide, that creates more possibilities and we were especially good down the wings this afternoon.”

“One of the reasons why we were so good down the wings is because against sides that defend so deep it’s easier for the full backs to move up, and Sergi Roberto made some great runs up the right. I don’t think there is anyone more suited to playing at right back for Barça than Sergi Roberto.”

“I have different kinds of players and that gives me a lot of options. Depending on who we are playing and the players I have available, I’ll pick the ones that I think are right for the situation.”

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