Barcelona defender Adriano has admitted that new Coach Tata Martino has made the players believe in themselves again.
The Blaugrana have enjoyed a record-breaking start to the season, winning their first eight matches of the Liga campaign.
And the Brazilian has conceded that the new boss has been a revelation at this early stage, whilst also commenting on the upcoming Clasico and Neymar’s arrival.
“We are happy with the way the season has gone, but we also know there is a long way to go yet and we have to improve,” he told AS.
“We have won games, we have drawn games, and in some games teams have almost fought back against us. We have to get better at controlling games, but we’ve improved a lot at that recently.
“Tata’s making us believe in ourselves again. We are keen to create pressure again and it’s very important for him to get us winning balls back.
“I think he’s working on these things so we can believe we can win another European Cup, and this season we are out to win another treble.
“Without a doubt [the Clasico is special]. We want this year to be different.
“We know that we are physically better than them at the moment, and we have clearer ideas and more desire.
“Those of us that knew Neymar knew he’d be his same simple, humble self here. Everybody likes him. He’s settled in here and you can see that he’s feeling freer on the pitch, he’s more confident.
“He knew how to deal with it all. There’s a hierarchy in the team and he knows he has to respect that. But on the pitch he just does the best he can.”
Adriano concluded by commenting on Carlos Puyol’s return from injury.
“He’s looking forward to playing again and hopefully he’ll be as good as ever. He has set standards for the whole team to follow, because of who he is and the way he does things and leads people. He sets an example for younger players, and so I hope we’ll be seeing many more years of 'Puyi'.”
