Valverde: Suarez reminds me a little bit of Quini

Enrique Castro Quini was the centre of attention at Ernesto Valverde's pre-game press conference for Thursday's Las Palmas game on Wednesday. The Barcelona coach remembered the club's former forward, who played at Camp Nou between 1980 and 1984. 

Quini, who also played for Sporting Gijion and Spain, passed away on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack at the age of 68. 

"It's a huge loss and the reaction of the world football has been significant, which shows that [it's a huge loss]," Valverde said.

"He was with several teams, Barça, Sporting, Spain... He was a goal scorer from another era, to put it one way. From a personal point of view, we coincided on the pitch (...) He was a kind, loving, warm person. When you were with him, you felt like you were the only one in the room. It's a big loss for football, we feel it." 

The Barça coach was also asked to tell younger supporters what sort of player Quini was and to compare him with a modern day player. 

"I don't know aboutmodern-dayy comparisons," Valverde said. "He was an instinctive goal scorer, he had the ability to do anything, he was good in the air.

"I don't know how many times he won the Pichichi (for top scorer in La Liga), but it was several times in a row. He was guaranteed to score goals. Maybe [he was] a player like Luis Suarez, someone you associate with scoring when you think of them."  

Barça's players began Thursday's training session with a minute's silence for the former striker.