Gavi on Luis Enrique, growth at Barcelona and Brazil

Gavi has spoken in an interview with Marca about facing Morocco in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup.

“What I expect is a very tough game, because this is a World Cup and we are already in the knockout phase. What more can you say? We’ve seen that they’re a great team collectively and individually,” he said.

“This is football, a sport. I respect everyone, but I’m not afraid of anyone. Of course, Brazil are one of the favourites, but it’s no use thinking about what could happen in four days’ time. We saw that with Japan. There’s no reckoning other than the next game. And that’s Morocco.”

On coping with everything that has happened to him over the last year and a half

“I try to be my usual self, no more than that. Everything goes very fast and things happen to me that I couldn’t imagine. But I have a lot of people close to me who help me. I know where I am, who I am and where I come from,” he says.

On Luis Enrique

“What can I say? He’s known me for a long time. Anything I can say will be an understatement. I agree with the coach when he says that football is a show, a spectacle. We want Spain to be moved by us, to feel proud of the game we play. There’s only one winner. And we are going to try, but the road is very important and I particularly feel very proud when people praise Spain’s football.”

On his reputation as being a tough player, a player who goes to war on every ball

“I don’t think so. I just go out to play football, to give my all on the pitch. It’s true that, despite my age, I don’t get down on myself. I’m not afraid of anything on a football pitch, I just go out to enjoy myself and to give my all, always.”

GSFN | Kieran Quaile