Hleb (2): "This team will make history"

In an interview with Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona attacker Alexander Hleb talked about his first months at the club.


(you can read the first part of this interview here)


What can we expect of this Barcelona?
This team will make history. There's so much talent that in the end all the bad things that could influence us won't be an obstacle. I guess our coach has a hard time with the line-ups: nobody wants to sit on the bench and everybody gives everything to be on the pitch. We know there are only eleven guys that can play but in this team nobody deserves to be a substitute. I wouldn't like to be in Guardiola's shoes...

What can we demand from this team?
The minimum is one trophy, but here we all want more. We're a hungry and non-conformistic group. And it's not the others who ask us this, we're asking this from ourselves because we know the potential is there.

Your wife Anastasia likes football?
She does. In England she usually came to see the Arsenal games and she already has been to the Camp Nou. She's delighted about the team, of course. The one thing that surprised her were the empty seats. She's used to the atmosphere at Highbury or the Emirates, where the people never stop to support the team and where you always have a deafening noise. "It's so quite here", she told me with a feeling between surprise and disbelieve.

This Barcelona will be able to fill the Camp Nou?
The fans should always come out. Defeats or negative series are something normal in football. But this lasts less long when your fans are by your side. With Arsenal we lost once 7-0 but although the fans were disappointed and even angry, they kept supporting us. And it happened to be an isolated accident. When you feel supported, like now already happens with my team-mates, you can turn the page sooner. It's not about people not being allowed to be critical, they can, but I don't understand why the stadium isn't full. Now people are happy to see how we're winning, but I repeat that football is not a one-day passion, it's something of a whole season, a whole cycle, a whole life. I hope the fans will return to the stadium and, above all, that they stay.

Why should they believe in this team and this project?
This Barcelona is spectacular and I don't understand how the atmosphere in our own stadium is so cold. You'll always have showtime here: one day we'll score a lot of goals, the next we'll create a lot of chances, the next we'll have a late comeback, the next we'll miss a lot of chances, the next we'll fail three penalties, the next there will be a fantastic goal. The good thing about this Barcelona is that you don't have to think, you should just sit down and enjoy. That's the best thing to do. You know enough when you see how the players deal with each other. That's the best guarantee for success.

What do you think about Messi?
He's such a bad player, right? No, seriously. It's an incredible player. Leo is without any discussion and with a big lead the best football player of this moment. Nobody has a better technique and he has so much qualities. I'm thankful to have the privilege to be his team-mate and not to be the defender having to mark him! You can't win it, he always gets away.


This was the second part of the interview. The third and last part will follow tomorrow with Hleb talking - amongst other things - about his preferred position on the pitch and the possible return of Cesc to Barcelona.

You can read the first part here:

Hleb (1): "My team-mates laugh with my accent"