Luis Enrique defends ‘spectacular’ Busquets and Alba after Spain draw

Spain boss Luis Enrique defended Barcelona duo Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets after the team’s 1-1 draw with Germany at the World Cup on Sunday.

Both players have come in for criticism this season but remain key players for Luis Enrique, with Jordi Alba picking up an assist for Alvaro Morata’s goal on Sunday.

The Spain boss spoke about the duo after the match and explained why he continues to count on both veterans.

“Alba is a player of the highest level, just like Busi, it’s a campaign and it’s normal, people get tired of veterans,” he said.

“I bring them because they are spectacular. Jordi Alba is the best winger in the world in the last third of the field, just like Busi, they have been trying to retire him for many years. Hopefully we will convince him to follow another World Cup.”

Luis Enrique also spoke about his team’s performance and how he wants Spain to go all out in their final group match against Japan.

“When I watch the game afterward, I’ll like it better,” he said. “Especially this one. I saw a first half that was perhaps better, but we lacked a little bit of confidence to realise that we could hurt Germany more. We couldn’t control the game and they caught us with a mistake. We were ambitious until the end and I’ll be happy to see that tomorrow.

“I liked the attitude we had of going out to win the game. We will go out to win against Japan and we want to go through as group winners.”

Spain take on Japan in their final group fixture on Thursday.