The coach of Barcelona, Xavi Hernández, said that “when you lower the intensity everything becomes equal” after his team did not go beyond a goalless draw against Galatasaray in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16. “We have needed to attack better, to be less thick in the last pass, in the centers and in the shots. In addition, we have found an opponent who has been very good. We have generated less than normal, we have not played an excellent game , but it would have had to be enough to have won at least with one goal”, analyzed the coach after the game. Instead, Xavi considered that Barça “in the second half” was “better, attacking with two pure wingers, dividing more, hence the entry of Gerard Piqué in rest, which is more used to doing it than Ronald Araujo”.
The Barça coach admitted that his team was not “like in the last four or five games”. But he pointed out that he is not “concerned, although he is upset” because he believes that Barça was “superior” to Galatasaray. “This is Europe, even if it’s the Europa League, and people are here on their own merits. Nothing has been won or lost. You have to keep working with caution,” he explained about whether there was an excess of confidence when facing the twelfth-ranked player in the league. turkish league.
About Iñaki Peña, the Barça goalkeeper on loan to Galatasaray who started at the Camp Nou, Xavi stated that “he was spectacular, he made a great game with two or three worthwhile saves”. And he added that the idea “remains for him to be part of the squad when he returns from loan.”
Pedri: “We lacked rhythm”
Barcelona footballer Pedro Gonzalez ‘Pedri’ considered that his team did not have “rhythm with the ball in the first part”. “In the first part we also lacked to look for free space and we were not good in the pressure. When Feghouli came down he was always free, but in the second half we adjusted it”, analyzed the Canarian midfielder in statements to Movistar +.
Regarding comparisons he is receiving with Andrés Iniesta Over the last few weeks, Pedri said he’s been trying to get out of “that” and focus on what he has to do. “I still have a lot to learn and I look at the people I have here, like Busquets”, he added.
