Sarabia was assistant coach to Quique Setien at Barca, where his abrasive style drew criticism.
But he told Revelo: “On the one hand, people were intent on it going wrong, and then it got bigger, but well, I can’t have done that badly or I wouldn’t have been involved when Gerard Pique was the one who hired me for Andorra and when the representation agency I have is Griezmann’s, I give these two examples.
"That’s the first thing, and then, the relationship that has remained with several footballers and a few conversations that I had with Leo, for example, which (exhales) were amazing. I say that Leo is not only the best in history at playing football, but also at understanding football.”
On working with Lionel Messi, Sarabia also said: “One of those conversations was at the training ground, when the session was over. We had been playing a little game and there was a pressure action, which was sort of disorganised pressure and in the end they got out and created a chance to score.
"So, I took advantage of that play a little to try to get Leo involved as well, to help us in these types of situations, to try to help his teammates, organise them…”
“Football conversations, which I also later remember that when I entered the staff dressing room as they were a little surprised because almost no one had really had a 30-40 minute conversation with Leo (smiles), natural and talking about football and everything he liked and because, as I told you, it was outrageous how he understood things.”