Considering the reputation he developed as a hard-nosed competitor during his long and successful playing career, it’s no surprise to see Luis Enrique come out fighting ahead of Barcelona’s attempts to banish their wretched form with Wednesday night’s trip to Deportivo.
Barca have lost their last three league games to squander a ninepoint lead at the top of La Liga, now only ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid on head-to-head advantage.
But despite the intense pressure exerted by his team’s run of just one win in their last six games, bullish Enrique is in no mood to allow any insecurity to creep in.
“If I had any doubts about winning the league, there wouldn’t be any point in me sitting here,” he said, before suggesting the criticisms aimed at his team have struck a chord as he added: “I can’t even imagine the party we’ll throw if we turn this around.”
In addition to their poor form, Enrique’s aggressive approach to his job has seen him come under personal scrutiny following his patronising put-down to journalist Victor Malo, whose surname means ‘bad’ in Spanish, after Sunday’s home defeat to Valencia.
Although the brief exchange of words was a minor incident in itself, it has been magnified by the Spanish media and held up as an example of how Enrique’s abrasive manner is supposedly undermining his team.
??Luis Enrique: "If the teams with the best players always won, football would be boring." #FCBLive pic.twitter.com/jm6f8oURcs
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 19, 2016
But Enrique said: “I don’t have anything to apologise for and if you don’t like my style, I couldn’t care less. I haven’t been disrespectful to anyone. On the contrary, a lot of the media have been disrespectful to me and my players.”
Barca’s task at draw-specialists Deportivo is complicated by the absence of one of their better plays during their recent struggles, suspended centre-back Gerard Pique.
With Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen both injured, that will almost certainly mean a rare start for Marc Bartra, who has seen only 382 minutes of league action all season and not featured at all since March 12.
Despite his reluctance to give Bartra playing time, however, Enrique insists that he has full faith in the Spain international, who has repeatedly been linked with a move away due to a lack of opportunities.
“I can only say marvellous things about Marc’s professionalism,” he said. “He is more than ready and if he plays, I have complete confidence he’ll do a great job.”
Although Barca have a good record at the Riazor, with Lionel Messi scoring hat-tricks in his last two trips there, the Galicians claimed a point in their previous two meetings with a pair of 2-2 draws at the Nou Camp.
Enrique added: “We don’t have particularly pleasant memories of them. They’re a team with different variations, depending on what their coach [Victor Sanchez] wants to do. We’ll have to see whether they sit back or he lets them get forward. Winning away from home is always difficult.”
