5 facts you probably did not know about Luis Enrique

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Luis Enrique is set to leave the hot seat at Barcelona after three years in charge

Luis Enrique is in the news for announcing his departure from Barcelona at the end of the season. While many have displayed their surprise at his decision, one could say that the former Blaugrana player made a wise choice and doesn’t want to overstay his welcome.

Despite winning the treble in his first season and double in his second, some fans were never really convinced by his managerial abilities. And those people will be more than happy to see the back of him.

Every celebrity has some interesting things going on about them, and Enrique is no different. On such an occasion, we would like to reveal some Luis Enrique facts that you probably didn’t know until now.

#1 Pele’s Best 100

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Luis Enrique is definitely one the finest midfielders Spain has ever produced

Pele is regarded by many as the greatest player of all time. He mesmerised fans around the globe during the 60s and his accolades with both club and country put him on the pedestal of the best. So when a personality such as Pele puts your name in his top 125 footballers list, you know you are special.

In March 2004, Pele published a list of the 100 greatest footballers alive and Luis Enrique was one of the only three Spaniard in that list, with the other two being Real Madrid legends, Raul Gonzalez Blanco and Emilio Butragueno.

This in itself is a high praise from the man that many consider as the best player in the history of football.

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#2 Marathon runner

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Luis Enrique is one who takes his running seriously

Footballers have their hobbies. While some like to make music or try a different haircut every other week, it seems as though Luis Enrique’s hobbies fall in the spectrum of athleticism. After retiring from the game as a player, he took part in many marathon running events.

In 2005, he ran in the New York City Marathon, followed by the Amsterdam Marathon in 2006, then the Firenze Marathon in Florence, Italy, and the desert Moroccan Marathon des Sables in 2008.

But that’s not all as Luis Enrique also took part in a 2007 Ironman competition in Germany, a 140-mile triathlon race that is labelled as the hardest endurance race in the world.

#3 Guardiola’s prediction

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Brothers from different mothers

It wouldn’t be a stretch to claim that Pep Guardiola is Barcelona’s greatest manager after Johan Cruyff. The legendary former midfielder has an outstanding record with the Catalans as he has an almost unbelievable 14 titles in his four-year tenure at the Camp Nou, which includes three La Liga triumphs and two Champions League titles.

So it is almost impossible to replicate what the former Roma midfielder did with the Blaugranas. However, he didn’t seem to think so.

Many doubted the choice of bringing in Luis Enrique as the successor to Tata Martino at Barcelona, given that he wasn’t really successful with any of the clubs he had managed previously. However, Pep Guardiola was fully confident on his fellow Spaniard.

So when Luis Enrique was appointed as the manager of Barcelona, the current Manchester City manager claimed, “he will do better than me.” And his prediction could yet come true as Enrique has won eight titles after two full seasons and is still alive in all three competitions at the time of writing.

#4 The surfer

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Enrique the surfer (via El Periodico)

There are very few things in life that work as effectively as meditation. Things that require so much concentration of the moment that you forget about everything else in a bid to stay focused. Actually, ‘forget’ would be a wrong term here.

The concentration should be of such a level that you should feel connected to everything and everyone, that is true meditation. Activities such as driving, bungee jumping and sky-diving fall in this category. Another thing that requires an unreal amount of attention is surfing.

When the waves are at its highest, the fear of losing your life grips you into focusing in the moment. And it seems as though Enrique needed such a meditation after retiring from the game as a player. After retirement, the Olympic Gold medalist lived in Australia for a while where he tried his hand on surfing.

#5 Is a former Madridista

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Luis Enrique while playing for Real Madrid

Most of you know this already, but this one is for the younger Barca fans out there. Yes, that’s right, folks. Your manager used to be a Madrid player, for five seasons in fact. He was bought by the Galacticos in 1991 and played there till 1996 when his contract ended.

After leaving, he joined Barca on a free transfer and went on to represent the club for eight years, winning two league titles in the process.

He always maintained that he rarely ever felt loved by the fans at the Bernabeu and didn’t have many great memories to look back to, which was the main reason for him to cross the divide and join their greatest nemesis.

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Edited by Staff Editor