Barcelona reminds Kobe Bryant of great Lakers teams
The Lakers star revealed his admiration for Barcelona in a chat with Thierry Henry.
Basketball star Kobe Bryant has compared Barcelona to the Lakers team with which he won five NBA titles.
Bryant met up with former Barca striker Thierry Henry in New York to discuss the merits of the two sports institutions — and believes there are a number of similarities.
"I think they can win it all again [La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey], they have a different style to other clubs," Bryant said in an interview quoted on the Barcelona website.
"You could compare them with us [the Lakers] when we won with our offensive triangle, a style of play which brought us success under Phil Jackson as coach — or with the Spurs with the fast movement of the ball and exploiting the space.
"Everyone is synchronized and, when they are in position, your teammate knows exactly what to do. When you have this flexibility and see the ability of the players, it is very difficult to stop them."
& chat & compare them to great NBA teams! 15 March 2016
Barcelona meets Arsenal in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie Wednesday, with Barcelona ahead 2-0 from the first game in London.
And Henry, who also played for the Gunners, as well as Monaco, Juventus and the New York Red Bulls, says Barcelona is like no other soccer team in the world.
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"I played at Barca and I can assure you that it is another dimension," said the former France striker. "It is a unique club with a different atmosphere to the rest. To compare them with anyone else would be crazy."