Barcelona have Luis Enrique to thank for peaking at the perfect time, says Guillem Balague

Guillem Balague has praised Luis Enrique for the way he has rotated his squad to perfection, ensuring that they have peaked just as other teams have begun to tire.

The Barcelona manager is on the brink of securing the La Liga title, has guided his side to the Copa Del Rey final and can now start to prepare for a Champions League final as well, all in his first season at the Camp Nou helm.

It has not been all plain sailing for the former Roma boss with rumours of unrest in the dressing room earlier in the season but, says Balague, that is no longer the case.

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"The boat has stopped rocking if you like and everybody is in his place," he told Sky Sports News HQ. "Luis Enrique had a lot of ideas of what he wanted to do with his side and not all of them worked.

"One of them was to look for alternatives to Messi, well no. Don’t look for alternatives to Messi, give the ball to Messi. So that is one thing that happened in January.

"Since then everybody else have been affected by not great managing of their sides while Barcelona, with the rotations imposed by Luis Enrique, have arrived to end of the season in perfect shape, perfect form.

"Pep Guardiola was saying, "I’ve seen all the players, they are so thin, so sharp, so fast" and this is definitely what is helping Barcelona."

Balague also praised the simple but effective tactical plan used by Enrique at the Allianz Arena as Barcelona almost bypassed their midfield, playing a direct style that Bayern struggled to deal with.

"He was very clear last night that there was no need to build from the back, there was no need for midfield for Barcelona," he added.

"Bayern were always going to pressure high so it was about playing it long and that’s how the two goals came. Once Barcelona got the two goals it was the end of the game."

The Revista pundit also stated his belief that Pep Guardiola will take another sabbatical when he leaves Bayern Munich but confirmed the double Champions League winning coach wants to stay in Bavaria for another season at least.

“He was asked if the stories about City are true, he denied it. He said ‘200 million times’ that he is here to stay, after that who knows?” said Balague.

“That is Pep Guardiola. I suspect he will want to rest, I suspect that if he doesn’t stay with Bayern he will just take a break and then regain the energies exactly as he did at Barcelona.

“What is certain though is that he wants to stay at Bayern. I asked last night what stage of the process he is at and he said, “I need more players”, which means that he has got unfinished business at Bayern, for sure.”