Luis Enrique to unleash trio on former club

Posted on April 5, 2015 by John

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique will be leaving old sentiments aside and hoping his attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez continue their blistering form when they visit Celta Vigo on Sunday.

The Catalan club currently hold a four-point lead over closest title challengers Real Madrid and boss Luis Enrique – who had a successful spell at Celta prior to his move to the Nou Camp last season – will be hoping his side in the very least maintain their lead at the top of La Liga.

Luis Enrique will be hoping his old friends do his side a favour unlike their last meeting back in November when Eduardo Berizzo’s stunned Barcelona 1-0 at the Nou Camp.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique believes the strength of the team stretches beyond the potency of the front three claiming that the club’s philosophy, and the fact that Luis Enrique has fine-tuned it recently, has been key.

“I think the team still has the same philosophy but we have a lot of options,” the Spanish international told reporters. “With the three great players we have up front, we haven’t had to change the way we play but we do deliver a lot of balls to them because we know they will create scoring chances.”

“We still dominate games. The style and philosophy remain the same. Barca always has to be the team that takes the initiative.”

Apart from the happy return for Luis Enrique, the big news in the build-up to the trip to the

Balaidos Stadium has been the foot injury to Argentine star Messi. Rumours that he could very well sit out the game were dampened this week when the club issued an announcement saying that there appeared to be some improvement.

A club statement read: “The inflammation of Messi’s foot has improved and the player will attempt to join the rest of the internationals tomorrow.”

Spain’s top scorer with 32 goals was rested in Argentina’s friendlies during the international break after picking up the injury in 2-1 ‘Clasico’ win against bitter rivals Real Madrid

Tenth place Celta have seemingly continued where Luis Enrique left off following more eye-catching victories this season which including a victory over current title holders Atletico.

Not that Luis Enrique will be complaining about his move away from Galicia.

Apart from being top of the league, Barcelona are also in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and in the final of the King’s Cup as they remain on track of a repeat of their 2009 treble.