Xavi Hernández finished the match with a bittersweet feeling. He is very happy with the minimum margin win and this gives them a draw advantage against Real Madrid, but is a bit upset that the team is not good at making or in the goal of dominating the game with the ball.. The technician denied that the first plan was to defend himself. “The plan was to have the ball for a long time, to win the duels and play on the Madrid court. Dominating the ball. Our first goal was to defend the ball and we couldn’t do it today. There was no timeout. Today we can’t brag about how it happened,” he said.
Of course, he wanted to highlight his team’s great defensive work without the ball because although Ancelotti’s men had control, they were unable to create dangerous positions. “We were phenomenal in defense without the ball. Defense is part of the game, so the win is very important, we had a great win. Today we minimized the risks. Madrid. They only had one chance today from Rodrygo,” he stressed.
While he praised his team defensively, he wanted to insist that they need to improve a lot in the area where Barça usually excels. “They took us a lot, leaving us alone with the ball. It’s not the possession percentage we’re looking for. We need to play with the ball because otherwise we won’t be able to control the games. I’m not happy with the game.”
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Xavi continues to see Madrid as draw favorites. “This 0-1 has changed a bit; 1-0 but I see Madrid strong, physically very strong. I still see Madrid as favourites”.