Barcelona coach Luis Enrique noncommittal on his future

IANS
Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique is the fifth Barcelona manager to win La Liga title in the debut season

Madrid, May 18 (IANS): FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique refused to speculate about his future at the football club after leading them to the La Liga title.

Striker Lionel Messi's 65th minute goal gave Barcelona a 1-0 win against defending champions Atletico Madrid in the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Sunday which leaves them four points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid with just one game left to play this season, reports Xinhua.

It is the first step to what could be a treble-trophy winning debut season for the coach, who has also led Barcelona to the finals of the Kings Cup and the Champions League at the club where he used to be a player.

However when asked whether or not he expected to be working at the club next season, he said he had, "nothing to talk about. I won't speak about it until the end of the season".

Enrique did admit to being delighted with the campaign so far.

"You can't just talk about one moment, because a league title is made up of a lot of effort and it is unfair to mention just one," he said, before commenting on the "exceptional efforts" his players had made.

"It is 10 months since I began my time at Barcelona and in that time we have had a lot of changes, the team had not won a title for a while and we knew this could not be considered a season of transition, because this club can't afford something like that," he said.

"Therefore, it is a huge satisfaction for us to win the league, which is the trophy you win for consistency, and to win it in a year when Real Madrid have also been at an incredibly high level," he added.

"We have three games, two of which are finals, left this season and only then will be able to say we have started a new cycle because the players have been better than their rivals. We have to show it on the pitch," concluded Enrique.

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