Xavi Hernández finished the game with a bittersweet feeling. Very satisfied with the victory by the minimum and that gives them an advantage in the tie against Real Madrid but a little upset because the team was not fine in the construction or in the objective of dominating the game through the ball. The technician denied that the initial plan was to defend himself. “The plan was to have long possessions, win duels and play in Madrid’s field. Dominate with the ball. Our first goal is to defend with the ball and today we couldn’t. We haven’t been neat with the ball, we also lacked a break. Today we cannot boast of how,” he said.
Of course, he wanted to highlight the great defensive work of his team without the ball because despite having control, Ancelotti’s men were unable to create dangerous chances. “We have been extraordinary defending without the ball. Defending is part of the game, that’s why victory is very important, we took a tremendous victory. Today we have minimized the Madrid. Today they only had one chance from Rodrygo”, he highlighted.
Despite the praise for his team in the defensive aspect, he wanted to insist that they must improve a lot in the facet in which Barça usually excels. “They have taken us to our field a lot, they have submitted us with the ball. It is not the percentage of possession that we are looking for. We need to play with the ball because otherwise we will not control the games. I am not satisfied with the game.”
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Xavi continues to consider Madrid as favorites in the tie. “This 0-1 change little; it’s 1-0, but I see Madrid as strong, very physically strong. I still see Madrid as a favourite”.