After winning King’s Cup, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique sets sights on treble
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique allowed himself a brief moment to savour Saturday’s King’s Cup triumph over Athletic Bilbao before quickly turning his attention to the Champions League final against Juventus, the last leg of their treble tilt.
Another magical performance from Lionel Messi helped set up a 3-1 win over the Basque side and, with the La Liga title already in the bag, they now face the Italian champions on June 6 aiming to repeat their 2009 treble success.
“We are almost there and it would only be the second time that a club like this, with so much history at a high level, has been able to do it,” Luis Enrique told a news conference.
“It will be difficult but that is what we are working for now. It really would be superb if we could do that. We were better than Athletic in our play and now we have to beat Juventus.”
Messi unlocked the Bilbao defence with a clinical strike after a run that left four players in his wake and then added another in the second half. Neymar scored in between while there was a late consolation for Inaki Williams.
“We are fortunate as we see Messi all the time in training,” said Luis Enrique. “In training he actually does things more difficult and I am looking forward to watching this one on the television.”
Luis Enrique did have words of criticism for Neymar, who prompted some pushing and shoving from both sets of players after he showboated by flicking the ball over an opponent.
“If I was an Athletic player I would have reacted the same or if not worse for what Neymar did, but in Brazil that is normal,” he said.
