BARCELONA -- Luis Enrique said that Tuesday night's 3-1 Champions League group stage win over Ajax went perfectly as Barcelona won the game early, and his pre-planned idea of then resting important players ahead of Saturday's La Liga clasico at Real Madrid had gone well.
Barca took control of the game by the 24th minute, with two goals from Neymar and Lionel Messi. The blaugrana coach then took off both his key attackers, as well as playmaker Andres Iniesta, during a lower-key second period.
This led to some unexpected late drama as Ajax substitute Anwar El Ghazi made it 2-1 from closer range with two minutes of normal time remaining, but blaugrana teenager Sandro Ramirez soon scored to wrap the game up.
Luis Enrique said in his post match news conference that taking off Messi and Neymar had been thought of in advance, and the risk that Ajax could come back had been worth taking.
"I did not make the changes thinking about the clasico, I thought that the game was under control and the players must be looked after," Luis Enrique said. "It was pre-planned, and within the normal things that happen in any game of football. I am brave and try to make decisions which benefit the team. These are normal risks. We won the game, and were able to give rest to some very important players."
Messi was removed on 67 minutes, with the Argentine applauding the crowd and then taking his place on the bench without showing any apparent discontent at the decision. Luis Enrique said that there was no disagreement between them over such substitutions, and that the media storm from the past few days had been efforts coming from the Spanish capital to destabilise his side ahead of Saturday's game.
"We understand each other -- of course he wants to play all minutes," he said. "But us coaches must have a global view of what is best for the team. The bad interpretations [of what goes on] usually tend to happen when a clasico is arriving. What a coincidence."
Messi told reporters that he had no issue with his coach's decisions, and this week's fuss had been overblown.
"Lots of things have been said," Messi said. "But when the boss needs to take me off, he takes me off, no problem."
Luis Enrique said he had overall liked how his team had played.
"I liked a lot the game in general," Luis Enrique said. "The first half we were much better than our rival, made many chances, scored just two but could have been more. The key was to impede them from playing the ball out from defence, pressing them, not letting them play. That was decisive in the first 45 minutes. In the second half we did not press the same way, which meant they had more of the ball, and we suffered more. There are always things to improve, but we were much more powerful than our opponent, and deserved to win the game."
Repeated questions about which Barca XI would take to the field on Saturday were stonewalled, as was the issue of whether Sergio Busquets will overcome a groin issue to start the game.
"I believe Busquets will be able to play, but we will have to see," Luis Enrique said. "I always suffer when picking the team, but as a coach what you want is to have all your players able to help, to make the team stronger, and I have that now. There are differences between players, of course, but I knew I would have this problem when I became Barcelona coach."