"What Luis Enrique was looking for at the time were players capable of quickly adapting to his playing philosophy. He put me in the lineup for a friendly against the Netherlands (1-1, November 11, 2020). He simply told me to look for the third man cutting inside, and above all, not to play long balls. At Athletic, whenever we faced even the slightest pressure, I was used to looking for players like (Aritz) Aduriz up front. He gave me that instruction, and I thought to myself, '"Well, I’ve got nothing to lose, I’ll do what the coach asks.'" "I was doing some completely crazy stuff, incredible (risky) passes cut inside to the midfielders, but that’s what he asked me to do, to create opportunities. He liked what he saw and told me to get ready for the next game and that I was now allowed to play the ball out to the fullbacks." "It’s as if he wanted to test my ability to show that I was with him. And I was all in. He had that mentality: “What I ask, do it, and if you get it wrong, don’t worry, because it will be down to my decision.” The confidence he gave us... If I had to knock down a pillar with my head, I would have knocked it down. It might have taken a while, but I would have ended up bringing it down."   submitted by   /u/Sparky-moon [link]   [comments]