Can we have a fitness update?
No big news. We have a training session this afternoon. We have to review a few players. Overall in terms of returning players nothing to give back.
Yeah really looking forward to it. These are the kind of games that we want to have. Against a big opponent. We’re just ready for it.
You’ve had to show different mentality to win this season. How pleased are you with that?
Yeah they’ve been very different ones. We had to a play a different game in the second half against City and at the end losing two points in the last minute, we did completely the opposite playing a low block against them.
It’s a different challenge against Leicester but watching the game back I’m so pleased with the amount of things we generated.
Those are the two players that are in contention and we have to review today.
Is Calafiori serious because reports suggest he left the stadium in tears on Saturday?
We didn’t do any training session yesterday. He was a bit emotional after the game. Let’s see how he is today.
What are your memories of PSG as a player and how has it shaped you as a manager?
It was my first professional experience. I had an unbelievable time there. I will always be grateful to Luis Fernandez because he was the one who believed in me when I was 17 or 18-years-old and gave me the platform in professional football.
From there in a club of that size and city that is probably the most beautiful one in Europe, it’s a an experience that will stay with me forever, with teammates that shaped who I want to be as a player and I think igniting in me something to become a manager. I think there were some very important individuals in that part of my career.
What was it like to play with the players you played with at PSG?
Unbelievable. We had Ronaldinho, Okocha, Anelka, Pochettino, Heinze. They were all unbelievable. I wanted to stay there, but at that moment I was owned by Barcelona and they couldn’t find an agreement. Then I had to do something else. But I was so happy there and this is football.
Were you ever close to going back?
No. Once I was here, my career started to develop here. It’s been a few years since then.
How important is it to show you can win games of different kinds?
It shapes the character and the body of the team that they can win in any context and adapt to very different contexts. The Champions League demands that during matches.
You can’t pretend that you will dominate for 95 minutes against these kinds of teams. It will not happen at this level so you have to be really good in other phases as well and sustain the belief and intention to win it.
You won three from three at home in the groups last year. Why are Champions League games at the Emirates Stadium so special?
Everybody is looking forward to it. We missed it for a number of years. Last year it was the first one where we had the opportunity to do it. The group stage is a bit different this season. The opposition we’re facing is probably at the highest level in European football. Honestly it’s a great opportunity to see how we deal with that, how prepared we are and how we can deal with different contexts.
Memories of Luis Enrique at Barcelona?
A smile on my face. I am a huge admirer of him. He has an unbelievable personality, huge charisma, huge energy. He was always very supportive with the young players and what I love about him is that, whatever he has been as a player, as a manager his fingerprints are all over the place. You can sense that is his team.
You can see at PSG that’s his team – the way the players behave, the way they want to attack, they want to dominate games, the spirit, the energy that they have. He has this unbelievable power. He has done it at all the clubs he has been at, with Spain’s national team. And then there is his approach to life and his profession, it’s something to really look at and I learn a lot things from him.
Did he influence you?
Well, what he has done is that he is straight forward. He looks in your eyes and tells you one thing, and I think at the end players appreciate that. You might like it more or less – depending on how it happens – but the way everybody talks, I have two or three players who have been in the national team with him, they always say the same thing and they all enjoy playing under him. When someone can make you feel like that in your profession, that’s a big quality to have.
Have Timber and Calafiori brought something different to the team?
We missed Jurrien 11 months and Riccy wasn’t here. They are two players that have the football brain, the intelligence, the courage, the quality and adaptability to occupy different spaces attacking and defending. That gives the team a different dynamic and makes us unpredictable for the opponent to defend. And they’re both huge personalities which I love.
Do your full-backs have individual little qualities that make it easy to pick and choose?
They have to have one in common – they have to love
