Former Barcelona defender Abelardo is adamant that Luis Enrique is capable of leading the Catalan club to silverware. The Blaugrana boss is under pressure after back-to-back Liga losses but his old team-mate Abelardo insists that the 44-year-old will thrive in 2014-15.
The Blaugrana failed to win a major trophy last term, resulting in the dismissal of Gerardo Martino during the summer. Luis Enrique was installed as the Argentine’s successor and oversaw a fine start to the season, with Barca storming to the top of the Liga standings without conceding a single goal in their first eight games.
Enrique is now under fire after back-to-back Liga losses, with the Catalans slumping to a 3-1 defeat at Clasico rivals Real Madrid before suffering a shock 1-0 reversal at home to Celta on Saturday.
Abelardo, though, says Camp Nou must stand by Luis Enrique, insisting that his old team-mate has already shown that he is the right man for the job. “He is fully capable of leading this club,” the Sporting Gijon coach is quoted as saying by Barca’s official website.
“You can see what he has done with his teams [in the past] and Barca have improved in many ways on last season. “It’s also better for these defeats to happen early in the season. The team has to go from less to more.
“He has an extraordinary squad and I’m convinced they’ll win titles this year.”
After consecutive defeats in La Liga, which have seen Barca slip to fourth in the standings, Luis Enrique and his troops now turn their attention to the Champions League and Wednesday’s meeting with Ajax in Amsterdam.
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