FC Barcelona’s coach Xavi Hernández hopes that after raising doubts in the first half, the Spanish Super Cup will help his team take the necessary step to successfully compete in the second half of the season: “I hope we find a turning point in this cup to reconnect with the game.”With a title that worked for us last season. Last year we won the final with outstanding football and it went well for us. You have to call him,” the Terrassa man explained in Prince Faisal’s press room at the Al Ahli facilities. Neymar is the team he plays for someone he knows well.
The Barça coach neither wants to progress nor is he thinking about the final. He respects Osasuna very much and they were tired of praising his coach Jagoba Arrasate in a press conference. “We don’t know their approach, we know they are a tough opponent, we know they have a great coach who prepares the matches very well on a tactical level. Their work is very clear, they enter from the wings very well with vertical football. A team that always makes our existence difficult.”.
The recipe is clear
Xavi has a recipe for the semi-final: Not making mistakes: “We can’t give anything away, you should start like in Barbastro and then not make mistakes. I can say that we found the game again because we could not control the games, I think we played a good game in the second half of Las Palmas, Almería, Barbastro, but tomorrow they punish us for mistakes that we cannot make. “Xavi admitted that he was the favorite for the match against Osasuna, if not for the tournament, due to the quality of the teams in the other semi-finals,” explained Xavi.
One thing that the Barça coach is not obsessed with is the fact that, especially since the match against Antwerp on 19 September (5-0), it is now fashionable not to win twenty consecutive matches with a difference of more than one goal. last year. “This is not an obsession. I think we deserved to win easier in many games and I also think there were games we won but didn’t deserve, like the Real Sociedad game, I’ve said this before. I’m signing to win the semi-finals and finals with minimal margins.”.
At the press conference held before the Super Cup semi-final, Xavi also talked about the conversation he had with his players at halftime of the Almería match. “I think the players see in me a coach who creates confidence in them and takes their pressure off. I talk to them a lot, I like individual conversations. “The feeling of family and unity does not change,” said the Catalan coach, celebrating the defeat against Real Madrid in the Super Cup semi-final as if it were a victory, and believes that the team has improved a lot since two years ago. to the white team. Believe it is the right way to achieve perfection: “Many things have changed for the positive, although I understand that the environment is always looking for perfection, the team plays much better, understands everything much better at the positional level. “The balance in these two years is very positive and we must look for that continuity and excellence, which will bring us championships.”
Pedri has more options than Cancelo
Xavi spoke about the situation of the three players heading to Saudi Arabia. While the Barça coach said that Pedri has good feelings and can play minutes against Osasuna, he is more pessimistic about Cancelo, but it will depend on his feelings. Completely ruled out Iñigo MartínezHe will be out of action for a month after getting injured in Barbastro. In fact, in the following training sessions, Pedri trained with the group, while Cancelo did it alone.