Luis Enrique reflected on a “beautiful” Champions League final but would not commit his future to Barcelona after seeing them complete a treble for the second time in six years. The manager said the decision would have to wait after being asked whether he intended to continue as the team’s coach.
“This has been spectacular,” Luis Enrique said after his team’s 3-1 victory. “Juventus caused us a lot of trouble but we have written history again for Barcelona. This is one of the best seasons of this great club. The statistics prove that and we will have a great celebration. It’s been a difficult year – a year of transition. I have to thank the people who trusted me. Those decisions will be made later though.”
Barcelona’s fifth victory in the competition means they have moved alongside Bayern Munich and Liverpool as third in the list of all-time winners and Luis Enrique reserved special acclaim for Lionel Messi, their “benchmark player”, as well as Neymar and Luis Suárez. Neymar, he said, had “improved tremendously and confirmed he was one of the best players in the world” while Suárez had fully justified Barcelona’s decision to sign him from Liverpool while he was serving his ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup.
“When we thought about signing Luis Suárez we knew of his quality and goals statistics but we had our doubts. We didn’t know if he would adapt to the other players and philosophy. His performance here and his goals total show that he is one of the best players we have spent money on and it was a very good decision to trust him. We paid a lot of money but he has shown great hunger to win matches and win titles.”
Massimiliano Allegri, the Juventus coach, said his team had “come out of the final with greater self-esteem” but admitted they could not handle the attacking threat of Messi, Neymar and Suárez. “They were extraordinary, and we were not able to contain them.”
Barcelona had already won La Liga and the Copa del Rey and Andrés Iniesta talked of it being “a spectacular season in every sense of the word”. He added: “Six years ago we thought it was impossible to repeat the treble. It makes my hairs stand on end to look back on what we have achieved, how fantastic it has been and the things we have achieved. I don’t think you realise how difficult it has been. Next season we will try to do it again so we can win our sixth Champions League.”
