Barcelona’s season is touched and almost collapsed after the Champions League elimination against PSG. It is the third title that Barça has lost after the Super Cup and the Cup, two defeats that in January affected Xavi a lot, to the point of announcing that he would be leaving on June 30. Barça is playing at the White House the last chance not to end a season that had great aspirations and which, on the other hand, may mean the final point of the project, Laporta’s first full time in his second stage.
With that horizon, there is nothing more Laportista than a classic that invokes the instincts of Barcelona fans to turn the page and forget that they were unable to defend a two-goal advantage against the Parisians. “It is very simple and easy. We have the opportunity to place in the League and put ourselves within 5 points”, harangued the coach. There is no turning back: anything short of winning is goodbye.
After five days, according to Xavi, the noise over Gündogan’s criticism of Araújo’s expulsion and the gasp in the corner of the 1-2 has died down. “Is over. By talking, people understand each other. When there is no bad intention, there is no problem”, he assured.
Barça lives in the low hours and Madrid has settled in the heights. Xavi highly praised the rival’s competitive gene and does not think that luck should be discussed. “When you’ve won so many times you play with more confidence and less urgency. It’s no coincidence that in three years, Madrid has twice eliminated the best in the world, City, since we compete against this team in Spain”, he said, to give credit to his team. “We don’t have bad numbers, we have four points less than last year, when we were widely leaders, but Madrid have one defeat in 31 games”.
Football has a lot to do with the mind and Xavi has warned the footballers not to hold out for the first few minutes, which are key in the Super Cup final in Riyadh. “At the beginning of each half, Madrid will press and be emboldened. It is the perfect setting to show personality. In the first few minutes it will be key to dominate and calm the high pressure that Madrid will apply”, warned the coach, who barely entered the appointment of Soto Grado, who sent him off on the first day at Getafe. “Talking about referees doesn’t help me at all. I hope he gets it right”, wished Xavi, a stoned optimist who has less and less water left in his glass.
