Josep Maria Bartomeu paid tribute to Luis Enrique for doing “an extraordinary job” as Barcelona Coach after back-to-back La Liga titles.
Enrique secured his sixth trophy in little under two seasons at the helm of Barca with another League title, courtesy of Saturday’s 3-0 win at Granada, prompting Bartomeu to praise the Coach’s efforts, along with those made by his “fantastic” players.
“I’m very happy for the title. We deserved it,” the President said after the game at Los Carmenes.
“We suffered fantastically to win the League. [The players] wanted the title and gave everything.
“It’s not been easy. It’s been a tough season, with a lot of pressure on us, but we deserve a lot of credit.
“We couldn’t be champions until the last day and this attests to the difficulty of the League.
“[La Liga] has showed again that it’s the strongest [League] in Europe.
“[Real] Madrid had a chance [of the title] until the last day and Atletico until the second-from-last.
“We knew that anything other than a win wasn’t worthwhile, but we have a great team, play great football and have achieved our objective, even after a rough patch.
“The final games of the season have been well worth seeing, and we’re certainly worthy champions.
“For years now, we’ve done very well. We have a very clear concept of our game, we know how we have to play and we have a group of fantastic players like [Lionel] Messi and [Andres] Iniesta, who have been decisive for several years and remain so.
“With this squad, everything is easier. Luis Enrique has done an extraordinary job.
“[A domestic double] would qualify as a magical season. Now we must enjoy the League, but when our celebrations end, we can only think about the Copa [del Rey].
“Sevilla will be very tough opponents, but we’re very enthusiastic about winning the double.
“I’m convinced that La Liga is a clean competition. Many things have been said and invented, some people want [the League to be] dirty, but I believe in the honesty of the players.”
