Based on the European Championships last summer, Spain have a good chance of winning the World Cup in Qatar. Most of the strong challengers will come out of Europe, alongside the major South American nations. Yet La Roja were inches away from beating the eventual champions Italy and according to Pedri, the squad themselves have high hopes.
In many ways, it is only to be expected that a Luis Enrique side has plenty of self-belief. Over the last two years it has been clearly shown that the national side are 100% behind their manager and his character appears to have rubbed off on his players.
Speaking to Cadena SER, in an interview carried by Sport, Pedri was asked whether it favoured Spain that they were not favourites for the World Cup. The Barcelona midfielder is expected to be a key part of Luis Enrique’s midfield.
“Maybe people don’t expect as much from us, they do not see us as favourites, but within [the camp] we do see ourselves as favourites. We won’t put a medal on without doing anything though. If we work as we should do, the chance will come.”
The worry for many will be that as an instrumental piece of both Spain and Barcelona, Pedri is at risk of breaking down as he did last season. However there has been a notable change in his physique this summer.
“I work a lot on the physical side, I still have room to improve, but bit by bit I am adding small things. Doses in the daily training. You can’t go hard on a day to day basis due to the load of the calendar, but you can always improve.”
At just 19, Pedri’s body was asked to adopt to an exhausting workload in elite football very suddenly. The hope will be that with more depth at Barcelona and further development physically, he can avoid injuries this season.
Image via JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images
