"Pedri needed to find himself"

Luis de la Fuente, Spain's coach, praised Pedri's performance against Northern Ireland, scoring his first international goals, and acknowledged that he was lacking a sense of himself.
"The expectations we had before with Pedri and Jesus (Navas) have been fulfilled, the only thing they have done is to reaffirm the impression we had. It's good for everyone that there's a lot of competition, it's going to benefit the team as a whole. We celebrate it and we are certain that we can count on everyone for the 15th", he told a press conference.
"I am the one who thanks Pedri for the way he behaves, for being a good professional, for being an example of self-improvement and effort. He is a model of values. As his coach I celebrate it because Pedri needed to find himself with Pedri and he has done it. It is an important day because he is a player who is going to give us very good things throughout the competition", he added.
For De la Fuente, Pedri plays in a different position than at his club, Barcelona, exploiting his qualities close to the opponent's box. "With us he has a different responsibility than at his club. We want him closer to the box, playing between the lines, taking advantage of the last pass and the shot. We know the potential he has and we want to make the most of it".
He also acknowledged that he still has room for improvement. "From the confidence he must have, we don't know where Pedri's best version is because he is so good and we expect so much from him that it is infinite".