FCBARCELONA.CAT

14.02.2008 15:27

Henry: “We’ve always had a winning mentality”

Berta Brau

The French striker remains optimistic about Barça’s possibilities of lifting the league title: “It’s possible. We have to believe and have confidence in this team. Right now, Barça can win it all”.

Thierry Henry spoke to reporters after training on Thursday morning and stressed that the players remain ambitious: “We’ve got a winning mentality and we can win it all”. He denied that the team was relaxing.

“Everything is possible”

The French striker was in upbeat mood: “We have to believe in this team. Everything is possible. If Madrid did it, then so can we”. He admitted that the points difference is important but insisted: “Since the defeat against Real Madrid we haven’t dropped many points, in fact we’ve only drawn two matches. We can win everything but it’ll be difficult. We have to keep on working”.

Goal drought

Barça has the best defensive record in the Spanish league but Henry explained: “When you don’t concede goals it’s sometimes difficult to score. We can score more goals. We have to keep on working and we hope to get them. If you look at the statistics since the last defeat you’ll see that maybe we haven’t scored many goals but we’ve managed to accumulate a lot of points. But it’s true that it’s time to start scoring again”.

Reporters also asked Henry to comment on the return of Eto'o: “Samuel is a very important player for us. I believe we can also score goals without him but it’s much better when we can count on his presence”.

Match by match

Thierry Henry denied that the players are prioritising the Champions League and the Kings Cup: “The squad is taking it a match at a time. Now we’re focussed on the match against Zaragoza”. However, he pointed out that the busy match schedule is interrupting the training programme and making it difficult to maintain peak condition.

Very demanding

Henry made it clear that he is demanding a great deal from himself: “I’m never happy with my performance. You can always do much better. The truth is I’m not used to playing wide. I played at centre forward with Arsenal for 8 or 9 years but if the boss asks me to drop wide I do it without any problems”.

Despite the differences in playing style, Henry explained: “Sensations are very good here in Barcelona. I’m feeling very good physically”.

“We need Ronaldinho at 100%”

“Ronaldinho is an important man for the squad and so we have to help him because we need him at 100% to be able to win it all”. However, he believes it is counterproductive for people to hang on his every movement.