Barcelona's Xavi on their 1-1 UCL last 16 first leg draw with Napoli
Barcelona boss Xavi on their 1-1 UEFA Champions League last 16 first leg draw with Napoli
Category
🥇
SportTranscript
00:00 Good evening, we start the press conference with the coach of FC Barcelona, Xavi Hernandez.
00:13 Questions? Marta?
00:31 Xavi, how do you feel after the game?
00:53 I feel a little bitter because we could win the game. We had the ball, we played well, we did a lot of things well.
01:04 We dominated the game, but we didn't do it well in the first ten minutes. After the first ten minutes, we didn't do it well.
01:26 I feel a little bitter because we could win the game. We had the ball, we played well, we did a lot of things well.
01:55 I feel a little bitter because we could win the game.
02:00 The team did everything you wanted. Long passes, high pressure. There were many moments in the game when the team did that.
02:16 It's not a matter of tactics, it's a matter of not winning duels. Sometimes you felt that the attacks were too short or that you wanted to attack too fast.
02:29 You asked for that point of patience. Why don't you feel that way in other moments of the game?
02:37 I think today is a very good game. I'm proud of what we showed to the whole of Europe.
02:45 But there are moments in the game when we are still in a hurry, we are lacking maturity.
02:50 We played better than in other games, but after suffering for three or four minutes, we play a center quickly.
02:59 We need to dominate, to be calm, to take a break, to get to the opposite side.
03:05 But if we talk about the game, I think we played very well.
03:10 It's true that they are physically stronger than us, we lost duels, but we played well.
03:17 In general, we played well in the defensive phase, we didn't generate much.
03:21 In the offensive phase, we had very clear chances. We finished the game very well, on the opposite side, dominating, generating a very clear win-loss.
03:29 I have the feeling, as I said before, a little bitter, of not winning the game today.
03:36 We deserved it, but it's the Champions League, and when you don't score, you draw a game that feels like you should have won.
03:48 You are talking about the feeling that you have lost the chance to win.
03:52 It seems that the team, in games like today, which has been controlled at certain times,
03:58 lacks this feeling, this second goal, or this goal of tranquility.
04:02 Why does this happen to the team? Is it a matter of confidence?
04:05 What are the factors that at times like this, we can't give a shot of affection and feel like a game like today?
04:13 I think there are two things. First, we lacked this feeling.
04:18 We generated three or four clear chances, but Napoli didn't generate anything, and we lost 0-0.
04:25 This feeling that we always talk about.
04:27 And then, what I found very lacking, after 0-1, more control, more control, more pause,
04:34 more finding the midfielders who go out to dominate the game.
04:38 I think this is what we lacked today, and that's why, to sum up quickly, it's the draw that we have.
04:45 But, well, for me, playing this way, we will win more games than we will lose.
04:50 Hi Xavi, LluÃs Flack here, live for El Larguero and for the Muguz of the Serra.
04:56 I don't know if you are going with the feeling of a lost opportunity,
04:58 and if, looking back, in your mood, the first 75 minutes that the team has been doing very well,
05:02 or the last 15 minutes, which perhaps you have suffered more because of the goal,
05:05 and because of how you penalise mistakes, in this case, with a goal,
05:09 the only defensive mistake that has been made.
05:11 In other words, after today, are you more or less optimistic to go to the quarter-finals?
05:16 Playing like this, I think we have a lot of numbers to beat.
05:19 I think we have played a very good game, both in the attacking and defensive phases.
05:24 We have almost adjusted to the goal, alone, and then we have generated many chances.
05:30 We have been very good in the attacking phase, very good, very good.
05:34 I think the team has done well to win, but this is the Champions League.
05:38 You forgive an attack, in defence you give a goal and they do it.
05:42 I am satisfied, but the bitter feeling of watching the game from my point of view was to win it.
05:50 Good evening, Manuel Oliviero, I am live for the match of the COPE chain.
05:58 Surely, that fluidity that you say is missing to go from behind and dominate in the opposite field,
06:05 is sometimes, at least seen from the stands, the presence of Christensen.
06:11 That is, he sacrifices that position of midfielder for another, more offensive, and play with another point.
06:20 I don't know if you have looked at that situation that has been playing a few games at Barça.
06:27 No, I don't think so. I think that precisely Andreas has given a lot of fluidity,
06:31 he has lost very few balls, he has given continuity to the game.
06:35 I think it was time for the far-away to appear.
06:39 They squeeze hand-in-hand, Politano jumps, Osimén jumps and Cavargelia jumps.
06:44 It is time to find the point, the midpoint, keep it, hold it, have more calm, more pause.
06:51 But it has nothing to do with me with Andreas Christensen.
06:56 Hi, Xavi. I'm here for BTV.
06:59 Leaving aside the result and the bitterness that the game has left you,
07:04 do you have the feeling that Barça, your team, has made one of the best games in Europe in recent years?
07:11 If it is this COPE of the necessary table that the team asked for,
07:14 that you talked about in other press conferences. Thank you.
07:17 For me it is a pity that the result does not give us the reason.
07:20 If we analyze the result, seeing the game, it is a pity.
07:25 But I am very satisfied with what we have worked on.
07:28 During this time as a coach, a lot of things have come out.
07:32 Today we can feel proud of the image that the team has given and how it has competed.
07:38 I think it is a very good team game.
07:41 In summary, in Europe, surely one of the best.
07:44 I think it is the way to compete in the return match.
07:48 I am very satisfied with the game, but the result is a pity that it does not give us the reason.
07:54 Hi, Xavi. I'm Jordi Blanco from Espian.
07:59 You said that after the 0-1, the team lacked calm, patience and playing with more tranquility.
08:06 Wouldn't you miss more that after the 0-1, having Napoli practically on his knees,
08:12 you wouldn't go to crush him, at that moment, to sentence him, to solve the problem,
08:15 to go for the fast way?
08:18 Wouldn't you miss more that, calm and patience?
08:22 Yes, what you say is that it comes from having the ball, calm, patience,
08:27 find the right moment, sleep the game.
08:30 When you sleep it, then it comes that we would have looked for the ball and looked for the 0-2.
08:37 We never speculate.
08:40 We have missed that, yes. Both things. First, the control and then, what you say, look for the 0-2.
08:46 Hi, Santi Jiménez from El Diario AS.
08:52 Taking into account the return match for the qualifying round, I think there is a question.
08:57 Do you have an explanation that Barça, away from home, has not lost,
09:02 and that, well, in the Champions League, the league is a great level,
09:05 and that they are doing this level, and at home they don't have this solidity?
09:10 What is missing? Because, obviously, in the return match, the qualifier will decide.
09:15 Yes, obviously. I think we all miss the Camp Nou. It's logical.
09:20 We knew it from the beginning of the season. I already said at the presentation that it was a difficult year,
09:25 that we had to adapt to Montjuïc, but it's not the same.
09:28 We are not fooling ourselves. It's not the same to play in Montjuïc as to play in the Camp Nou.
09:32 It's an evidence, but it doesn't have to affect us, obviously.
09:37 But it's a shame, because imagine the return match at the Camp Nou.
09:43 For me it would be different, and for the players, for sure, and for the opposite, too.
09:47 But, well, the fans will be there, as always. We need them.
09:52 If it was 50-50, now it can be 51-49, playing in front of our fans.
09:59 Hi Xavi, Mario Gau up here. Live for Radio Estadio Noche de Onda Cero.
10:04 I wanted to ask you about Lewandowski's goal, which he scored again in the Champions League.
10:08 What can the return of the Polish striker mean to the goal in this competition?
10:13 Well, for me, more than the goal, I think it's how he plays now for the team.
10:18 I think he has taken a step forward in playing easy, in the position, winning duels,
10:24 getting together with the team, in the high pressure, in the transfer pressure.
10:29 He's very focused, Robert. And that's why he's getting goals.
10:32 We've talked about it a lot. He's a natural leader, he always wants to improve.
10:36 And I think he's helping the team a lot in this area.
10:40 Thank you, good night.
10:42 Thank you very much.
10:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]