Interview: the assistant coach on building the next generation

A candid conversation about identity, pressing, and patience.

We sat down with the assistant coach for 45 minutes in a quiet corner of the training ground. The conversation ranged from set pieces to substitutions to the unglamorous, daily work of building the next generation.

"We are not panicking about Messi retiring," he says, smiling. "We have been planning for it for four years. The U20s, the U17s — they know what is expected. The standard does not drop."

He talks about the importance of the youth setup, of the new analytics department, of the close relationship between the senior staff and the U23 coach. He talks, too, about the pressure: "In Argentina, second place is failure. You learn to live with it, or you go and coach somewhere else."

The full interview, including his thoughts on the next generation of forwards, runs in this week's feature edition.