Blaugrana in English Barcelona news
Xavi Hernandez, coach of the Barcelona team, expressed his happiness after beating Real Betis on penalties and qualifying to face Real Madrid next Sunday in the final of the Spanish Super Cup.
Xavi said after the match: “I always want to compete against the best teams and beat them. Real Madrid is one of the best teams. Welcome to the final.”
He added: “It’s not just a penalty shootout. We need maturity. We scored the second goal and we needed to score the third. We need to finish the match. This has been happening to us since the World Cup.
He continued, “I was very satisfied in the first half. With the ball we were exceptional. From here Betis dominated us and we suffered. In the first half we could have scored.”
He continued: “The Super Cup will not change our season much. We want to win it, but whatever happens we want to fight for all the titles. We have set ourselves two goals. The first was to reach the final. The second is to play well to be able to prepare better by finishing the game early. This was not possible. Ter Stegen was very good.”
And about Ansu Fati, Xavi said: “Ansu Fati? This is my mistake today, I should have entered it earlier. He’s much better since coming back from the World Cup and his defensive style has also improved a lot. He scored the goal and the penalty, I’m happy for him because he suffered. But he worked to be at that level.”
And about Dembele and De Jong, he said: “They ended the match with annoyance. I do not think there was an injury. We hope that everyone will be there on Sunday.”
And about the decline in the performance of the players: “We have to do self-criticism. In the second half we weren’t good, that’s not the way we want to be. We have seen two faces. The first half was great, the second half we weren’t up to.
He added, “I do not think it is a matter of changes. In the second half, Betis dominated us, and this is what we do not want. We have to activate more high pressure that makes us play more in the opposite field. We’ve been through this since the World Cup and fortunately now we’re in the final.”
And about his goalkeeper, he said: “Ter Stegen makes the difference. I am happy. He is the cherry on top of the cake. He saved two penalty shootouts. Now to the final. We want to compete and win it.”
And he concluded: “I am happy and relieved because the goal was to play the final, and this cost us. Happy to play El Clasico here in Saudi Arabia. And now we have a final that I’m trying to win.”
