Fifth and last classic of the season. What a Cup final is worth. The one that can definitively unseat Real Madrid, a team that has only managed to win the first one. What can consolidate Barcelona’s hegemony between the two giants of the League. For this reason, in the mind of Xavi Hernández, coach of FC Barcelona, ​​there is no place for the Negreira case. Nor for the open conflict between the Barcelona board chaired by Joan Laporta and Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, which he says he is not aware of. “I have just spoken to him a couple of times”, he explained. Faced with the institutional and judicial cloud which, at least publicly, has also cooled relations between Real Madrid and Barça, the Barcelona coach has chosen to shield himself and his footballers. Nothing is more important than the ball. Nothing is more momentous than, after the 0-1 achieved at the Bernabéu, beating Real Madrid tonight at Camp Nou to get the passport to the 43rd cup final in Barça’s history. “We are focused on another type of wars. The ones that are more football. Cup finals are very beautiful games to experience”, pointed out the coach, who as a player won three of the 31 Copas del Rey that shine in the Blaugrana museum.
Xavi aims to qualify for the final as he likes. Taking care of the ball and taking possession. This was not what happened in the first leg of the semi-finals. At the Bernabéu there were circumstances never seen before in Xavi’s Barça. Only 35% possession, many minutes closed in the own area and almost no convincing combinations with the ball. “This time we can’t be proud of how”, admitted the coach after that game. His idea has not changed. “Our example of a match is the Super Cup”, he recalled yesterday. Xavi never loses sight of that January 15 classic in Saudi Arabia (1-3), when Barça, who had lost the first League classic at the Bernabéu (3-1), subdued Real with quality and clarity Madrid to win the first title of the season. Uruguayan center Ronald Araújo pointed out what many were thinking. “This match is the beginning of a new era”, he hinted. At that time, Barcelona already ruled the League, but with just three points of revenue over Carlo Ancelotti’s.
Today, after beating Real Madrid again at Camp Nou (2-1), the distance is 12 points. Mission practically accomplished for the Blaugrana in the domestic competition.
Arabia was also the stage in which the coach found the key to the four midfielders, with Gavi acting as a false left winger, with Pedri, Busquets and Frenkie de Jong in the engine room, and a defense that has proven to be a real wall: Araújo, Koundé, Christensen and Balde. The average age of that Barça was 25.2 years compared to 28.3 for Real Madrid.
What happens is that, as happened in the first leg of the cup, Xavi will have to line up an eleven without the injured Pedri, Dembélé and Christensen. And now he will add another sensitive loss: that of Frenkie de Jong, undisputed starter in all the classics this season. “It’s true that without Frenkie we are less tidy, but we will still win with our idea”, warned Xavi, convinced that Barça can reach the same level despite the significant absences. “We must not forget where we come from. There is a very clear evolution. At the beginning of the season, despite the elimination in the Champions League, I already saw the possibility of winning titles with this team. I was always an optimist. And if we win, the joy will be double. The pressure is on Real Madrid”, stressed the coach, who despite having won three of the four contested classics thinks that the whites “continue to be the favourites”.
Xavi outlined his reasons. “Real Madrid is the current champion of the League and the Champions League. How long has it been since he didn’t lose a tie?†he asked. Probably, the coach already knew that the whites have not been eliminated in a double game since May 2021 against Chelsea, in the semi-finals of the Champions League. Almost 2 years ago.
The classic will be refereed by MartÃnez Munuera, the latest protagonist of the videos that Real Madrid Televisión dedicates to the referees who, according to their judgment, have harmed them. “I neither like nor dislike MartÃnez Munuera. Let him do it in the best way. I believe in the honesty of referees”, said Xavi.
