Coach Confirms Key Player in Squad Despite Recent Knock

The coach cut a relaxed but guarded figure as he faced the cameras on the eve of the game, delivering the update everyone wanted first.

“He trained separately. He’s fine. He’ll travel. We’ll see,” he said, confirming his key player is in the squad despite a recent knock.

The star has been working away from the main group after feeling pain from a challenge, but the message from the dressing room is clear: he wants to play.

“He had pain from a knock and is training separately. But he says he’s fine and could play tomorrow,” the coach explained. “We have to wait to see if he plays tomorrow. We’ll decide. I don’t know if he’ll rest or not. He wants to play. He doesn’t like to train separately.”

The staff see a player in form and in the right headspace, and that weighs heavily in the decision.

“He’s in very good shape. His mentality and morale are improved. In the last match, he was outstanding,” the coach said. “For him, playing is better than training. It’s the right thing for him to start so he can recover; I think it was good that he started the first three matches.”

The opponent, the schedule, the risk. All of it sits on the table. The ambition, though, doesn’t change.

“It’s football, anything can happen. We have to focus our efforts where they matter. It will be tough. But we want to win. And we know it won’t be easy,” he said, making it clear there will be no excuses.

What gives him confidence is what he sees every day, away from the cameras and the noise.

“When I watch training I always think that the quality of the team is very good, how we press, pass and compete,” he said. “In each rondo you can see that it is the highest level but in the end the important thing is to win the titles in Barcelona. The quality of the squad is top.”

The standard, then, is not just to play. It is to turn that training-ground brilliance into trophies.