Luis Enrique has insisted that Marc-Andre ter Stegen cannot be blamed for Barcelona’s deficiencies at the back ahead of Las Palmas on Saturday.
The goalkeeper has now conceded 15 goals in his last six matches following La Blaugrana’s 4-1 defeat to Celta Vigo on Wednesday, but the Coach refused to single any one player out for criticism, instead demanding the entire squad to buckle up defensively.
“[Sandro Ramirez and Jordi Alba] have trained. I’ll make my squad list [on Saturday], but they’re both available,” he said at a Press conference.
“I don’t know whether the criticism [of Ter Stegen] has been fair or unfair.
“The goalkeeper is a special position as it’s easy to see whether [goalkeepers] are playing well or not.
“Dealing with criticism forms part of a player’s DNA. Each goal conceded isn’t by Ter Stegen or Bravo but Barca.
“Both [Sandro] and Munir [El Haddadi] are young, with a lot of potential.
“I’ve asked a few things of them because they have everything in terms of attitude and ability to do them.
“This is Barcelona, and they have top-level players ahead of them. I ask them to be prepared for when I need them.
“[Sergi Roberto’s] very interesting because of his versatility. We will be overrun by Rafinha’s injury as [Sergi] can play there, in the pivot or out wide.
“If I rotate and we lost, it’ll be seen as a huge cock-up, but I always try to do my best for my team and we know we have to improve defensively.
“[On Neymar’s confirmation of talks with Manchester United], these comments pass me completel. They don’t interest me in the least.”
