Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde shared his thoughts about Luka Modric’s FIFA The Best award win on Monday. The former Athletic Bilbao coach believes his team captain Lionel Messi remains the best player but admit that his club’s rival midfielder had a great year.
"I do not think it's time to compare players, but for us, Messi is the best. I have nothing else to say, [other than] Modric is a great player who has had a great year."
"Years ago there weren't this many awards, so there wasn't as much press coverage. Now there are lots of them, every gala is a homage to something or someone. They bring stars from all over the world and they have to sell that. It's covered by more press, so it becomes more controversial. It sells, in a certain way. I put it [controversy around awards] down to that. It's maybe excessive, but this is what it is. It's a sport, but more and more it's becoming show business.”
Ernesto Valverde claimed Clement Lenglet used his elbow to protect himself and described the incident as “never a sending off”.
"We are in the initial period of VAR. Later, things tends to get adjusted, but the controversy will not disappear altogether. It will be reduced, but in incidents like this one… if it was the elbow to the face, or the other way around, we’ll see what happens."
“I’m not looking at those things. It’s a story, nothing more. It would be good if they dismissed someone for not shaking hands.”
Real Madrid midfielder has been ruled out for a month but the Spanish wants him back before El Clasico in October.
“We hope he recovers soon. It’s a while yet until El Clásico. We don’t wish anything bad on anybody.”
For their midweek fixture against Leganes on Wednesday Valverde has this to say about their opposition manager Pellegrino
“[His] sides are always organized, which starts with tactical organisation, how they move and how they surprise you on the counter. This year they have been pressing high – as they did at the Bernabéu – and they play with quite a lot of enthusiasm at home. It’s a contradiction that they’ve only got one point at home; they played two games very well. The worst game was the last one against Eibar. It will be a tough game.”
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