Luis Enrique and his irony on penalties: “I chose the three pitchers, look at my eye”

Luis Enrico he had confessed that his players had a task to complete before the game began. Qatar World Cup 2022: kick 1000 penalties. Curiously, his Spain were eliminated in the round of 16 after losing to Morocco in the twelve-step definition.

After 0-0 in 90 minutes and half an hour of extra time, the Red Not even he converted a penalty and the coach apologized because he was the one who chose the first three shooters: Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler Y Sergio Busquet.

“I picked the three pitchers. I felt they were the best pitchers. If they started again, I’d pick the top three pitchers. The rest is up to the players to choose freely from those three. Look at the eye I have. What I would do is remove Bono and put in another goalkeeper“, he joked at the press conference after the elimination, with the intention of belittling the result.

“They were better than us on penalties and I have no complaints. I wish you the best. We dominated the match, the midfield, we generated progression situations against an opponent blocked to the maximum but we missed the goal. We haven’t been very effective,” she analyzed.

“I don’t know if you were at the match… Or were your back to the game?” asked a reporter, when he pointed out that his team hadn’t checked the clash. “If we’ve done anything, it’s to dominate the game. We missed the goal. We dominated the midfield, we generated dangerous situations against a closed opponent, with a lot of defensive quality, with a lot of level. It’s true that we could have created more chances, been more effective in the last few metres, but it’s the phase with less space and time. Morocco defended itself very well,” he replied.

In turn, regarding the performance of the Argentinian referee Fernando Rapallini, the coach praised him: “I think he was fine, I apologized to him for some gestures in the match, but nothing more. I’m not one who attributes responsibility to the referees , they do their part, they are right and wrong like everyone else, but in this case It doesn’t seem to me that it affected anything“.

“I take this opportunity to say, now that we’re out, Let’s see if Argentina gets where it deserves. She has the most passionate hobby known in the world“, wish.

A future on hold

Luis Enrique Martínez assured this Tuesday that he cannot “say” his future, because he does not know it, although he has stated that he must “calmly think about what is best not only” for him, “but for the selection”.

“I can’t tell you, because I don’t know. This is not the time to talk about my future. It’s not important. It has no interest. My contract is about to expire, but you know that I feel very comfortable in the national team and in the federation. For what the president (Luis Rubiales) and the affection of (José Francisco) Molina (sporting director) mean, if it were up to me I would continue all my life. But that’s not the case. I have to calmly think about what’s best not only for Luis Enrique, but for the team. When I talk to the people concerned, everything will obviously affect all the situations that have arisen,” he explained.

“At the end of the match I spoke to the players, I encouraged them, I thanked them for their commitment, their ability to manage the game. We created the best chance in the 120th minute when he hit the post. Let’s move on, nothing happens, life goes on, it’s an experience that will stay with you forever and that I hope will be useful to you in the future“, he revealed.

He also noted that he was “proud” of his team. “He perfectly represented my idea of ​​football and that of the staff and congratulate them on how they competed and on their behavior. I’m very happy with the player profile I have and I wouldn’t trade them for any other. That’s what I’ve selected and I go with them to the death, seeing their behavior and interpreting that, if there’s anyone responsible for anything, it’s obviously me,” he added.

“This is sport. The players followed 100 percent of all the directions I gave them. They followed them 99.9 percent, because they wanted to score and I wanted to look for situations. It’s over. You have to analyze the match calmly. I don’t have a single reproach for this group of players. It was a wonderful concentration,” he explained.

In this sense he referred to Pablo Sarabia and said he had “a certain resentment on a personal level” with him. “I was very unfair to him. I took him out to take a penalty and he generated two chances. I was wrong with Sarabia for the whole World Cup. It’s the only punishment I have, but I have to make decisions all the time. Maybe Sarabia would have given him a lot more minutes,” he said.

Similarly, he was hurt by the Spanish fans: “We feel a feeling of sadness and disappointment with the support of our powerful fans and we haven’t been able to return it with the result. That’s what saddens us.”

With information from EFE and Télam