FCBARCELONA.CAT

22.07.2009 17:00

Henrique’s Blog (I)

www.fcbarcelona.cat

The Brazilian centre back will be telling us every day until next Sunday about things that have surprised him during the preseason visit to England and will be evaluating his first few days as a member of the Barça first team.

“We arrived in England yesterday and started working hard on the Bisham Abbey grounds. From the moment we got here we knew we were here to work hard and intensely, because that’s the way things are done in the preseason.

It is nothing like as hot here as it is in Barcelona, but I am quite used to training and playing in high temperatures because that’s what you get in Brazil. Also, last season, when I went on loan to Bayer Leverkusen, we went on a preseason training camp in the south of Germany and it was scorching hot down there!

As far as I can tell so far, the way they do preseasons in Brazil is fairly similar to here in Europe. One difference is that preseasons in Brazil are always in January, just before the official competitions start, which are still being played now. There, we used to go a hotel way away from the big cities and usually spend two weeks.

But the biggest difference I have noticed is that here at Barça we do much more exercises with the ball. In Germany we worked a lot, especially in the preseason, but it was all about fitness. But here we work with the ball, which is much better for a player; here the training is much more pleasant. And this factor is then seen perfectly in the way Barça play, which has some important characteristics. But in Brazil, there is a mixture of both styles; you work both with the ball and on the fitness aspect.

Another thing I’ve noticed at Barça is the fantastic atmosphere among the squad. The group is tightly knit and everybody speaks to each other. I knew it was a very united squad, but I didn’t imagine just how much. We joke about, but when the time comes to get down to work, we work hard and seriously, and so I’m really happy to be with this team.

See you tomorrow”

Henrique