A shot of Xavi from the first leg
Xavi, coach of the Barcelona team, expressed his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance despite its 1-0 victory over Real Madrid on Thursday evening in the first leg of the semi-finals of the King’s Cup, indicating that he still believes that Real Madrid is the most likely candidate to win the confrontation. .
Barcelona settled Thursday’s match with a single goal in the 26th minute, which Real Madrid player Eder Militao accidentally scored in his team’s goal.
The meeting between the two rivals will be renewed at the “Camp Nou” stadium, the stronghold of Barcelona, on March 19, in the Spanish League competitions, and then they will meet in the second leg before the cup final at Barcelona Stadium, on the fifth of next April.
Real Madrid had the most possession of the ball during the match, and its players scored 13 shots on goal, but the royals did not succeed in scoring, and Barcelona achieved victory through a single error from Militao.
Xavi expressed his happiness with the victory, but seemed keen to put pressure on Real Madrid again, stressing that he is still the favorite to win the confrontation and qualify for the final of the Cup.
“We have a definite advantage,” Xavi told reporters after the match. We will have to compete very hard (in the second leg at the Camp Nou). We defended well. It is a positive thing to play the second leg in our stadium and in the midst of our fans. But I still see Real Madrid as the favourite.
Despite confirming his satisfaction with the defensive performance, Xavi expressed his concern about his team’s decline in controlling the ball, as he recorded an possession rate of only 35.3% during the match, and his players completed only 309 out of a total of 380 passes for the team.
Xavi said: I am not satisfied, this is not the ratio we seek.
He added: The result is very positive. I’m happy with the work we did and the solid defense, as we saved Real Madrid in the middle of their stadium. But the match was tough.
But he emphasized: The victory is enormous, but we did not know how to keep the ball, and we also faced difficulties in winning bilateral conflicts. We defended well without the ball and attacked well without the ball.
Xavi continued: I am satisfied, but we have to improve our performance with the ball. We are not supposed to give the opposition the upper hand, I am satisfied with the result, but I am not very satisfied with the match.
