SPAIN - ALSO LOOKED AHEAD TO UKRAINE MATCH
Spain boss Luis Enrique has weighed in on the Lionel Messi debate after the Barcelona captain confirmed on Friday that he will be staying at the Camp Nou this season.
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The Asturian coached Messi between 2014 and 2017, during which time they won two LaLiga Santander titles and one Champions League amongst other things, but he believes that Barcelona and the Argentine should have reached an agreement over his departure.
"It's a very delicate subject," Luis Enrique explained during Saturday's pre-match press conference.
"The clubs are above everything and everyone.
"Leo has made Barcelona grow a lot, but I would have preferred an agreement.
"It's good to be grateful, on both sides.
"The day will come when Leo leaves Barcelona, that's it."
Ansu Fati is the next big prospect at Barcelona and the 17-year-old even made his Spain debut against Germany, but the Spain coach thinks that people should go slowly with him.
"Comparing him with Messi is putting him in a situation he will lose," Luis Enrique said.
"I was surprised by his normality, his composure... It's good to see him training.
"He's a different player. It's a pleasure to see him train and see how he is in the national team setup.
"I wish he could have more minutes at his club.
"In Germany, he created a lot of things, but the whole team [too].
"The attitude was wonderful. His face said he was looking forward to playing.
"But you have to go slowly, [he's only] 17. His future is great."
Given that he was impressed with some elements of Spain's display against Germany, will Luis Enrique now make changes for the Ukraine match on Sunday night?
"I don't see that they [the players] can all go away happy," he stated.
"I'm going to decide by what I see and what the game needs.
"We'll see how many [play again].
"Adama [Traore]? The same thing.
"They'll know first, and they find out two hours before so they're all in on it.
"Repeating the XI is a possibility, but we have to analyse a lot of things.
"But I don't want to give clues to [Andriy] Shevchenko, who is very clever."