FCBARCELONA.CAT

22.07.2009 18:56

Venables: “It is impossible to play better than Barça”

Jesús Carrillo/Marc Guillén (enviat especial)

Former FC Barcelona manager Terry Venables visited the club camp on Wednesday morning. The Englishman is a member of the organising committee of the Wembley Cup.

Terry Venables won the 1984/85 league title in his first year on the FCB bench, and also played for and managed Tottenham Hotspur, the team Barça will be playing on Friday evening. As one of the men in charge of the competition Barcelona will be playing in on Friday and Sunday, Venables decided to pass by the ground where Josep Guardiola and his team are training.

Incredible football

Speaking about the Barça treble, Venables said “It was incredible. Barça played well in every competition, their football was almost perfect … It is simply impossible to play better. There is no team in the world that can play like that, and only Barça can improve on that”.

Hard to repeat

Venables said that a repeat of last season’s achievement is “almost impossible, but given the quality of their players and the rhythm the coaches will carry on imposing on their players, neither would it be that odd if they were to do it again. They are capable of doing it again”.

Messi, number one

Then he was asked to make a comparison between Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi. “I think that up to now, Cristiano Ronaldo has had some great seasons, but I think the Argentinian is number one, there’s no arguing … Messi is the future, the future is his and nobody else’s. Nobody has the possibilities he has”.

Barça and Madrid

’El Tel’, who among his many previous posts also managed both England and Australia, was asked what he made of the close season signings made by Barça and Real Madrid: “If Madrid have had to sign so many players, that’s because of Barcelona and the season they had with Guardiola last year. Barça, logically, are Madrid’s obsession right now, it would be strange if they weren’t”.