Luis Enrique’s time as Spain coach is no more after he left the position last week. The day that the Royal Spanish Football Federation presented his replacement Luis de la Fuente, Luis Enrique made his first public appearance, joining popular Twitch streamer Ibai Llanos.
One of the most curious parts of the Luis Enrique’s 55-man squad list for the World Cup, before he whittled it down to 26, was Gerard Pique. The former Barcelona defender had retired from international duty four years before, but the Asturian coach kept him in the list before he called time on his club career.
Speaking to Ibai, as carried by Sport, Luis Enrique revealed that he saw a lot of himself in Pique.
“Gerard Piqué doesn’t get stressed by life compared to the others. He is a great professional, and very competitive.”
“He is very similar to me, a funny, playful guy who looks at life through a different prism. He puts things into perspective and is very special. I have no complaints about professional Geri as a footballer, he is hyper-competitive, and I would take him to war with me.”
The two often rub the media and fans up the wrong way for their different way of doing things, rarely conforming to what they are ‘supposed’ to do.
Given most people have a preconceived image of how footballers and coaches should behave, their contradiction of that often leads to questions over over their professionalism.
