Xavi says Barcelona must stay the course
Xavi says Barcelona must continue believing in sporting project
It was another harsh reality for Barcelona following their Copa del Rey elimination at the hands of Athletic Bilbao. It was their second 3-2 loss in a row having already lost in the Spanish Super Cup to Real Madrid.
Adding further salt in the Catalan wounds was the fact Ansu Fati was forced off, in tears, after suffering an injury in extra time. Early prognosis has the talented forward out between four to six weeks.
In his post match press conference, Xavi was disappointed in the result but remained steadfast that the only thing the club could do is keep looking forward and maintaining belief in the project.
"“These have been tough days, but we have no other choice but to keep working and focus on the league and Europa League,” Xavi said, “I don’t know any other way but to keep working and be brave. And to change the dynamic, which right now is not going our way. We have to recover the team mentally.”Source: Sport"
Xavi: “We tried to do it, we got a goal from Pedri, it looked like it was our time, then the penalty kick changed the picture, recently the crosses always hit us, we have to recover mentally, it’s a big blow to lose two titles in a few days.”
— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) January 20, 2022
New signing Ferran Torres echoed similar statements to his manager. He scored his first goal as a Barcelona man and believes the team have the players to change things around and they’ll do so soon.
Football is a results-based business and right now, Barcelona keep coming up short in games that matter. The defensive frailty has been all too common and the same players keep making the same mistakes.
While there have been some improvements from where they were under Ronald Koeman, the fact remains that the mentality remains the same. The intensity required in big matches is still missing and that is something that is going to take more than a couple of months to fix.
Next. Athletic Bilbao add to Barcelona misery. dark
Xavi is not a miracle worker and like Pep Guardiola, he is not going to go away from what has made him successful. However, he’s at a disadvantage compared to Guardiola. He doesn’t have Lionel Messi to bail him out, and the backbone of his side is made up of aging players who need to be phased out sooner rather than later.