Sergi Roberto on returning to training, playing without fans

Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto spoke about his return to training as football prepares to gear up again following a long break because of the coronavirus. 

Here are his key quotes.

Being back at work: “The first week has gone very well. We were all looking forward to getting back to work. I think all my team-mates are the same. We have spent a lot of time at home so we're getting back into the feeling of being with the ball on the pitch.”

Staying in shape: "I'm physically and mentally good. I've tried to train as much as possible at home. The fitness coaches told us what work we had to do at home each day. We didn't know when this would start again so we had to be at 100% for the return."

Being kept apart: "We still can't all be together because we are divided into groups in different pitches and they're more individual sessions. I hope it goes well and everyone respects the measures and that we can soon be in bigger groups so we can all be together, which is what we want. We mainly do circuit training in different stations. We can't work with our team-mates so they're individual exercises, some with the ball and some without."

Safety measures: "We have to arrive for training already in our kit. We can't go in the dressing room or anything. We just put on our boots and each player comes 5 minutes after the next so there's no contact. Then each player has their part of the pitch. So we go there and warm up, always keeping a distance from other players. When we finish it's the same. We go and change our boots, put on our shoes and go home in the same clothes that we wore for training. We have to shower at home and the next day it's the same again."

Playing behind closed doors: "It's going to be strange to play in front of an empty stadium. Football isn't the same without fans. We play for ourselves but also for the fans, for the people in the stadium enjoying our games. But we know that although they can't be in the stadium they'll be cheering us on from home. We'll be playing at 100% so that our fans at home feel happy in such difficult times."

Gratitude: "Especially thanks to all the health workers. Thank you for always being there on the frontline. They're the people in most danger because they are in contact with affected people. And thank you for getting affected people back to normal, and not ill.  And also thanks to everyone who has been respecting the measures so that we can quickly get back to normal. It's very important for everyone to be aware of what is happening and to respect the measures."