Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta shared an interview today to discuss the playing philosophy they see as inherent to recent – and future – success at Barcelona.
The duo have both picked up a number of individual accolades in the past 12 months, but hold the belief that the overriding approach to the game at the Camp Nou is the reason behind their progress.
“The way of playing – which we’ve worked on for such a long time – helps create success,” reflected Iniesta in talking to Barcelona’s official television station today.
“The most important thing is to have an idea, but you have to have the right players to put it into practice – the two have to go hand in hand.
“Can the style be replicated elsewhere? In the end, you have to know what you are doing and who you are playing with. That gives us an advantage over the rest.
“That doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to play, nor that they can’t be successful in winning titles, but everyone has to choose their own way to play.
“Fortunately, the Barca way of playing will outlive us. If that wasn’t so, then the Barca style would have disappeared at other moments when the team were not so successful.
“Maybe we’d let in three then and now we’ll score three, but we have always kept the same philosophy about the game – playing the ball out from the back…. one era with one set of players and another now with different players.”
It is a similar message from 25-year-old four-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi.
“The Barca philosophy isn’t about just one Coach or another, it’s based on an idea, a line that is laid down and all Coaches follow,” the Argentine asserted.
“That has always been the way in which the Club has worked with the academy. It’s not just the first team who play that way here – it goes right through the Club.
“You could try and put a team together with our characteristics, but we have the advantage that all the new players coming through also play that way.
“The youngster who comes to train with us from the youth team or Barca B, won’t see any change on the way we play. Barca pick players who can play in this way and so one things leads to another.”
