Barca a copy of great Liverpool teams, says Rush

Liverpool great Ian Rush is of the opinion that Barcelona’s style of play is a mirror image of his Premier League team of old when they swept all before them in the 80s.

“When you look at Barcelona now, I really believe they’ve taken their style from Liverpool in the 80s. Yes we know Barcelona are probably the best (club) team in the world at the moment but they’ve actually taken it from Liverpool,” said the Anfield legend who holds the club record of scoring 346 goals.

However, he feels they have gone a step further to be successful because of what they do when they haven’t got the ball.

“No one says how hard they work when they haven’t got the ball. They press the high tempo. So I think they’ve actually taken a step from that to be successful. Liverpool in 80s we knew what to do when we had the ball but when we hadn’t got the ball we would work hard to close defenders down. That’s what Barcelona do,” he said when asked for comparisons between his time at Liverpool and the present Barcelona side.

He feels that the Premier League is the most demanding in the world.

“The English Premier League for me is the best in the world. It’s the harvest to win in the world. It’s played at 100 miles an hour and anyone could beat anyone. If you look at the Spanish League, yeah you got two great teams there (Barcelona and Real Madrid), it’s only between them,” said Rush who made a sensational return to Liverpool after just one season with Juventus in Italy

Rush is in Dubai as part of Liverpool’s Soccer Coaching being held in the UAE for clients, stakeholders and employee’s children of Standard Chartered Bank.

“When you play in the English Premier League it doesn’t matter whether you are playing Wigan or Blackburn and if you are not on top of your game you lose against them. That’s why most probably the English Premier League is the most demanding league in the world. That’s why mentally you have to be strong enough mentally to prepare for that,” said the Liverpool who also played for Leeds United, Newcastle and Sheffield United (on loan) during a chequered career.

Rush made these observations when asked why it was difficult for Liverpool to win title domestically than in Europe.

"I think when you look at foreign players there, specially with Rafa Benitez, I think he was geared to win in the Champions League. They got to the finals as well. They have been doing so well," he acknowledged at a press conference in Dubai.

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