A Riqui Puig Exclusive
Ahead of the MLS season kickoff, the LA Galaxy #10 talks facing off against his old Barcelona teammates and what Leo Messi is like in training.
The MLS season kicks off this evening when Inter Miami hosts Real Salt Lake at the DRV PNK Stadium, and only silverware will suffice in 2024 for a Vice City squad featuring Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Luis Suárez. The ex-Barcelona quartet have won just about everything together except—yes—the MLS Cup. They’ve faced more fearsome Reals than this one, to be sure, and the opening match is really a prelude to the avalanche of fixtures this weekend that will signal the North American season has rumbled into life.
On Saturday night, Messi and Miami are in action again as they head out to Dignity Health Sports Park to take on the Los Angeles Galaxy and a onetime teammate from back in Catalunya. Riqui Puig joined Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy in 2013 and traced the path to the first team that Messi, Busquets, and many more traveled before him. But after nearly 60 appearances in the famous blue-and-red kit, Barça head coach Xavi—also a La Masia graduate—informed Puig in May 2022 that he was not part of his plans for the following season.
That August, a 22-year-old Puig sealed a move to Los Angeles to become a midfield lynchpin for the club that David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović once called home. A decent first season was followed by a poor showing from the Galaxy in 2023, but the club are hoping for a fresh start this term and so is Puig. He’s taken the #10 shirt for this season and will pull it on for a first competitive match when his old Blaugrana teammates come to town wearing Miami pink.
I caught up with Puig earlier this month at Galaxy HQ to discuss that prospect and more in the interview below edited for length and clarity.
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La Masia—the culture there is legendary. Was there a moment where you realized what you were a part of? You arrived there when Xavi and Iniesta were doing their thing.
It’s true. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi—I think I grew up with the best Barcelona in history. When people here ask about La Masia and what type of feeling it was to play in that team, I always say I was lucky.
Around your age, a little younger, you had Pedri, Gavi, all these guys. There’s such a culture of attacking midfielders and that really technical game. What is it there [at La Masia] that they produce so many players—what is the magic sauce?
In Barcelona, we always have the ball. The midfielders, when you always have the ball, you need to attack more. And [even] when we need to defend, we defend with the ball. The midfielders here in MLS, it’s more popular to go box-to-box, and you don’t take possession like Barcelona, where in a regular season game you have maybe 80%. We want more of the ball.
Have you adapted your game coming over here? It’s not the same possession game—have you tried to bring that desire to keep the ball? As you say, that’s the best form of defense in a Barcelona team.
Yeah, 100%. It’s difficult to bring the type of model that we have in Barcelona, because in my side we don’t have the same players. In MLS, you always see results like 3-4, 4-3. There are many goals. For the fans, that’s really exciting, and it’s nice to see a game of soccer here. But if you see a regular game in Barcelona, it’s always 1-0, 2-1. People take care of the ball. I try to take my philosophy that I learned in La Masia here, but it's difficult because here the soccer is totally different. They want to play more direct.
When you were leaving Barça, what was compelling about the offer that the Galaxy made to you?
The last two years in Barcelona, it was so difficult for me, because I’m a young player, and when you are young, you want to play a lot of games and a lot of minutes. And I feel in Barcelona, I don't have these minutes that maybe I need. And Greg [Vanney, the Galaxy head coach], he called me one day in a Zoom, and he told me, “We have total confidence in you. I think that you are one of the tops, and we will build the team around you.” I think that's the point that maybe in my mind, I said, “Okay, maybe I need to go to the Galaxy to live a new experience.”
When you got to LA, was there a moment where you knew you weren’t in Spain anymore?
Maybe when you are walking down the streets there are a lot of homeless, but that's a thing that maybe after COVID it's going worse. But the other thing, here, everything is so far, and there’s a lot of traffic. I live in West Hollywood, and I come here to Carson, and it’s always a one hour [drive]. In Barcelona, if you make an hour, I think you are in a different country.
France.
Yeah, you are in France. That’s the thing that’s changed my mentality—if you have a day off and you want to go to different places, to Manhattan Beach or Long Beach, you stay in the car maybe for four hours. That’s insane here.
I’m sure everyone asks you about Messi, but Sergio Busquets—you shared a dressing room with him for a few years, and I think he is one of the greats in his position. Did you learn anything from him, even if he plays a bit deeper than you?
With Busi, I learned a lot, because at Barcelona I was on the same side as him in the locker room. I think that he’s gonna be a good, uh, entrenador—
Coach?
Coach! And he wants to help you. Like you say, he played maybe more behind me, but he’s one of the best midfielders that I've seen in my life, and I improve a lot beside him, because I played a lot of games with him. I'm going to explain to my sons that I played with Busi.
I guess I do have to ask you a Messi question. When you got into the first team and you’re training, was there a moment where you saw him do something just crazy?
When he’s training, all the teammates, we know at the weekend we need Messi. We’re careful with him—if there’s a ball in the middle [a 50-50], we don’t go. But you can see in training that this guy is different, and he’s the best in history. He does things you cannot imagine. When you see Messi, he’s always one step forward to all the other players.
He sees it before it happens.
Yeah, for sure.
When you’re in a midfield battle, back in La Liga or wherever, was there a player you came up against who gave you the most difficult time, who made you suffer?
Busi is one of those here, and in Europe, I think Rodri of Manchester City. Really difficult opponent. Physical, he’s technical, he’s really complete. These are the two players where it’s most difficult to get past these guys.
What are your goals here? Do you intend to stay with MLS for a long time?
Yeah, for sure. In my mind, when I came here, that's true that I say that maybe I want to stay like two, three years and I want to come back to Europe. But now that I'm here for a year and a half, I say that maybe I want to make a career here. I have a good teammates, we have a good group. It’s true that my family and friends are so far, and it’s difficult to take a plane for 14 hours, and the [time] difference is nine hours.
I never imagined to go to America, live the dream of America. I never imagined to come here. In Barcelona, I have a bubble with my family, my friends, always together. When I needed to make this step to come here, it was so difficult for me, because I’m so close with my family, and now I have to FaceTime with them. But with time, it improves, and it’s something you need to accept and that’s it.
Before I let you go, I have to ask about Barcelona, and all the talk around them that they’re not having the best season. Last year they had an incredible defensive record and won the league—what do you think has happened?
That’s difficult, because like you say, I think Ter Stegen had 14 goals [conceded] in the league last season, and this year in the first half of the season he has like 20. It’s crazy. But if I have to say something about what’s happened this year, when you are winning trophies, maybe you are more chill and your body is not the same and you’re not active all the weekends. I don’t know, it’s difficult, but I think that Xavi, maybe he has a lot of pressure from the media and all the other things.
Yeah, Pep Guardiola said this month that he thought the Spanish media was much tougher than England. Do you remember feeling that pressure, or were you younger and it was different?
[Even] when you are really young, you can feel this pressure. It’s the worst thing when you are playing for Barcelona—also in Madrid, the pressure of the media. It’s crazy, and I think it’s too much.⚽︎