Xavi He had shown in the run-up to the final that he looks at the games with different glasses than the others. What Barcelona society sees as grey, he says is green. It is a defensive and self-indulgent attitude that can be understood: no one likes to have their work questioned, and the greater the criticism, the greater the temptation to deceive oneself. But after this Sunday’s debacle, tearing the team from top to bottom from the beginning, the Terrassa technician He had no way of finding a hidden explanation of reality. Your project is bleedingno matter how you look at it.
“We had the worst game of all. It was football. We were hit hard. If a year ago we had the best, today we had the worst. We must apologize to the fans, but you have to recover. Throughout my playing career I experienced many tough defeats and then we recovered. Barça will return. Now we have to accept the criticism that will come and continue,” said the coach, who will certainly receive reproaches. But the question is not that, but whether he is capable of finding solutions to the team’s ills. His body language after the game was one of frustration and dejection.
Compared to the Madrid, Barça appeared dwarfed. Shoulder to shoulder, the team Ancelotti It’s more than a head turner today. She has to hurt such inferiority. And he saw all this sitting in one of those sumptuous armchairs in the Saudi box. Joan Laporta, author of the phrase that “losing has consequences.” You can’t know what’s going on in his mind. He is visceral like few others, but he is accompanied by a tradition of loyalty to his coaches. He now has to meditate if with Xavi At the helm, Barça can shake the dust off its knees and stand tall. The president seemed to console the coach after the final on the grass. A sign that drastic decisions cannot be expected imminently. But to know.
Just in case, Xavi He said he felt the confidence of the club. And he vindicated himself once again, although in a weak voice: “I believe in the project, in myself and in the players. It is a step back for me and for the club, but I am strong, I accept the criticism, which will be deserved, now continue fighting for the three remaining titles,” he said.
It remains to be seen if the presidency and the players believe him. He was once again a Barça out of rhythm, without personality and without play, without anyone with stripes seeming to know how to put the team together. Yesterday’s final had nothing to do with the one from a year ago, and that Xavi He sought inspiration that day to find the turning point. She returned to the four midfielders, but the staging was poor. Xavi He had no choice but to admit the football disaster.
“It is not the image that Barça should show in a final. We have not been up to the task. It has been a tough defeat. We had the hope, but it has not been enough. We have to be self-critical and that this helps us to improve and compete better,” he added. Sensible words, but they are not getting through. A steep slope is coming up Xavi.
