Luis Enrique has revealed he is working on building up the fitness of his Barcelona squad, but not through playing lots of friendlies.
Mundo Deportivo reports that Barca are spending time at England’s St. George’s Park this summer, having travelled there recently, but are not playing any friendlies.
Enrique explained that he wants his players as fit as possible but doesn’t feel friendlies are the way to achieve his aim.
“At the beginning the goals are physical. Most of the work we do with the ball there is an inevitable physical component, essential I would say,” he revealed.
“We haven’t sought out many games this pre-season. It’s a slightly unusual pre-season as we’re not touring much and we intend to take advantage of training sessions and repeating things that will occur in matches.”
Barca will play both Nice and Napoli in coming days and Enrique welcomed the fixtures, offering his reasoning behind their scheduling.
“Every game has its stimulus. It’s important to find the working mechanisms that bring you closer to success that you can enjoy and savour,” he added.
