Luis Enrique explains decision to leave Ousmane Dembélé out of squad to face Arsenal

Ahead of his team’s first major test of what has been an unbeaten campaign thus far, Luis Enrique was notably asked about his decision to leave Ousmane Dembélé out of the squad to face Arsenal tomorrow evening.

In his press conference on Monday evening – attended by GFFN – the Asturian denied earlier reports of a heated argument with the French winger in the wake of the match against Rennes, although he opted to remain vague on the details of the call.

“When someone does not respect their obligations towards the team and is not ready – in a week and ahead of a game as important as this one… I want my players to be in the best possible conditions, I’ve left him out and I want the best for the team.”

“[…] I’m going to be very honest with you, I don’t want to make a soap opera out of this. There wasn’t any argument between us, that’s completely false. The issue concerns the player’s obligations towards the team, it’s not a problem between player and manager.”

Luis Enrique went on to add that he had the full support of the club management in his decision, and that he was entirely committed to the calls he makes as manager – “although they aren’t irreversible”.

GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin – reporting from Arsenal Stadium