Xavi: “We can’t be happy and we have to be self-critical” |  Soccer |  Sports

Xavi: “We can’t be happy and we have to be self-critical” | Soccer | Sports

Xavi Hernández, who received a yellow card for protesting during the first half of the match in San Mamés, did not find an excuse for not being able to leave San Mamés with the three points. Despite his exchange of opinions with the referees, no decision by Hernández Hernández had a decisive influence on the course of the match, and the Barça coach did not even name him during his appearance. It was the play of his team that focused his speech. “We can’t be happy,” he said at the start. “We have to be self-critical and I’m disappointed, although we also have to give credit to Athletic” because “he comes out very well under pressure and closes very well on the wings.” He didn’t let us play our game. The team tried, but created very little,” he admitted.

0

Unai Simón, Yeray, Aitor Paredes, Benat Prados (De Marcos, min. 80), Imanol Garcia, Berenguer, Vesga (Ruiz de Galarreta, min. 63), Williams (Malcom Adu, min. 75), Unai Gómez, Dani García and Guruzeta (Villalibre, min. 75)

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Ter Stegen, Koundé, Ronald Araújo, Pau Cubarsí, Cancelo, Gündogan, A. Christensen (Oriol Romeu, min. 76), Frenkie De Jong (Fermín López, min. 26), Raphinha (João Félix, min. 75), Pedri (Lamine Yamal, min. 45) and Lewandowski

Goals

Arbitrator Alejandro José Hernández Hernández

Yellow cards Ronald Araújo (min. 31), Dani García (min. 51), A. Christensen (min. 61), Imanol Garcia (min. 65), Berenguer (min. 86) and Koundé (min. 87)

Xavi stressed that Barcelona did not lack ambition and not being able to win leaves its mark. It’s not like nothing happens, because “it happens, because the locker room is affected when they don’t win.” The word is not ambition, but rather faith as in the last matches. According to the coach, “in the first 15 minutes we believed more, but then we fell.”

Regarding the absence of Lamine Yamal in the starting team, left due to Pedri’s injury, the Barça coach stressed that the Barça striker cannot always play, “because he played several matches in a row at the age of 16, and we did prevention to avoid injuries. Lamine must be dosed, because he is a teenager and he cannot accumulate that many matches. He also insisted that “we gave everything. The team was emptied and struggled, as Athletic also did not create much in a field where only Madrid won.

Regarding the injuries to De Jong and Pedri, Xavi regretted the circumstance: “They are two very important losses. It’s the men who give personality to this team,” he admitted. “We also miss Gavi, we must not forget him. It’s a misfortune. These are two midfielders who were at a very good level and we find ourselves without them. But we will have to accept this point.

Meanwhile, Ter Stegen, in statements in front of the television cameras, said that we were heading towards victory but in the end it was not the case. “We didn’t have enough in Athletic’s area, because here it’s always a very complicated match.” In the end, “maybe a draw is better for them than for We “.

The Barcelona goalkeeper, who barely had to intervene during the 90 minutes, lamented that “you start to get good feelings and then two key players go down. It still hurts. The children who registered did well. I hope it’s nothing serious in both cases.” In the analysis of the match, Ter Stegen pointed out: “They pressed high but it wasn’t very intense pressure and they let us play .We knew how to overcome it, but higher up it cost us a little more.

In the meantime, for Ernesto Valverde, “this point is a strong moment”, because, after reaching the Cup final for Athletic, “our intention is to maintain a high competitive level. I know that after what happened on Thursday we have to come down to earth”, and he stressed that “it was not a match with many chances, but it was very hard fought. In the end, we ended up being a little exhausted from the week’s effort.

Valverde feels that “the rivals respect us here as we do others. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to beat us, and they started the first ten minutes strong,” but. “The tie is fair, I think so, because there were few opportunities. It was a close, difficult match, less open than the Cup match against them.

He emphasized about Athletic that “we are a team that supports us a lot, more than anything because we have to be like that. There are times when the opponent has arguments to break your lines. We have the guarantee that the team will be responsive and will be able to come together. Did your team lack the ambition to aim for victory? “The idea with the changes was to give it a little more speed. From the start I made changes because I saw how the players were performing after the big effort on Thursday,” he said. “I thought we were going to have more chances, but the “The team arrived very excited.”

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