Without a Cup final after the 0-4 setback in the last classic and without European competitions, none, since February, Barcelona must concentrate all its efforts on the League. He has no other. And it’s true. It is irrefutable that until the beginning of June the blaugrana will not play anything else, they should not combine it with anything. But even so, Xavi is annoyed that it is said that his team “only” can win the League. He squeaks the adverb. In his opinion, the national championship cannot be considered as a minor title or a complement at all. And it is what he reminded his footballers after the cup elimination, that after falling in the Champions League in December at the club, the achievement of the League was classified as the main objective of the course and that mandate must be fulfilled.
“Winning the League is the host”, highlighted the coach from Egar to encourage Barcelona. Especially since after a stage, between 2005 and 2019, in which the showcases were very full with 10 Leagues, now comes a few years of urgency, in which the blaugrana have not lifted the trophy in the last three years. “It’s that we’re talking about winning a League”, repeats Xavi so that everyone understands the magnitude. “We have won five Champions Leagues and they demand it of us. But the League is the one that gives you stability and the one that tells you that you are doing things well because it is the fairest competition, â€he claimed.
For all this, the coach defends that a League can never be seen as little loot. “From within, the president, the board, the staff and the players will value it very much because we were there last year and we know where we come from,” he recalled. What’s more, only five footballers from the current squad know what it’s like to win the Spanish League. Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba, Busquets and Dembélé were part of the team that, led by Valverde, was proclaimed champion in the 2018-19 season. Not one more. In other words, for many it will be a special success and they will surely be eager to inaugurate their league record.
And for those who want to lower the value of the tournament for the mere fact of the wide advantage that Barcelona has accumulated as leader, Xavi is clear that it has been his own merit. “Getting 12 points from Madrid is amazing. For us this League will be extraordinary. The season is very, very good, â€he shined.
Twelve points that could be 15 tonight if the Barcelona fans beat Girona at the Camp Nou. “We can leave them at 15 points. We can not fail. We are having an extraordinary League and we can take one more step. Madrid’s defeat motivates us even more to seek victory”, the coach harangued, but always looking at the work of his players, nothing of a possible white surrender. “If Madrid disengages, it is thanks to us. The distance of 15 would be spectacularâ€. But that cushion would not mean that the bells could be launched on the fly either, because there would still be 16 points to be achieved for the mathematics to come out, they prescribe from the booth.
For the duel against Girona, Barcelona does not recover any of the injured. Neither Dembélé, nor Pedri nor De Jong. Against Madrid, the team missed the imbalance of the three. “We don’t want to take any risk. The sensations are the ones that are going to mark his return and they are not good. We won’t take risks.” Looking ahead to the next course, the winger Abde could be a solution after taking advantage of his loan at Osasuna. However, Xavi asks his team for time to mature. “We are going to mature with slaps, I already said it. We have new and young people. When we have been playing with these people for two years in a row, we will no longer be under constructionâ€. But to have time you need to win titles. That is also the value of this League.
