Luis Enrique reacts to FC Barcelona’s scoreless draw at Villanovense

FC Barcelona are leaving Villanueva de la Serena without the victory they sought. The last 32 tie in the 2015/16 Copa del Rey will have to be decided at Camp Nou on 2 December.

Luis Enrique spoke to the press following his team’s scoreless draw with Villanovense.

“I am happy with the team’s performance,” he said. “For a player, it isn’t easy to play a game when you normally have fewer minutes and you have less rhythm,” he added.

Here are the highlights of what Luis Enrique had to say following the game:

On the playing time given to the reserves:

“Clearly, with more minutes, the players perform better, but I haven’t seen any apathy and I’m satisfied.”

“I’m a coach and I have to manage the minutes of everybody. They’re decisions, and I’m happy with the ones I take.”

“The criteria for choosing the captain is that Adriano is the player who has spent the most time on the first team. They next one would have been Bartra.”

“I think that Samper can play inside and he played well. He had a complete game, just like Kaptoum, who we tried to protect because he’s played few games and we didn’t wanted to overload him. I liked all the Barça B players who played.”

On Villanovense:

“I would like to highlight the hospitality we received from all the people of Villanueva de la Serena, from the club and the great atmosphere. I’m very glad to have come.”

“Knowing that they are not in the best situation in their group in Second B, Villanovense had a very good game; they competed very well and created problems for us. They were helped by the excitement generated by these games.”

On the Mascherano suspension:

“I would have liked him to have the shortest possible ban. I hope these situations are not repeated.”