The recent confrontation in San Mamés, which culminated in a goalless draw between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, became another hard blow for Xavi Hernández’s team. With this result, the Barça team missed a valuable opportunity to close the gap with Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish tournament table, especially after the Madrid team’s draw against Valencia.
The post-match statements revealed a notorious discontent within the culé locker room, especially between coach Xavi Hernández and captain Marc André ter Stegen, who showed opposing opinions in front of the press.
After the final whistle, and before entering the press conference room, the Catalan coach criticized the team’s attitude by mentioning a “lack of ambition” as a key factor behind the team’s inability to take the three points. “It is incomprehensible not to have had more ambition,” said the former Al-Sadd coach of Qatar, also pointing out that, despite defending well, the team was not up to par in other aspects of the game. “We should have done a lot more, shown more ambition. We had to go for the game. “It was a day to do something else,” he added.
Minutes later, Ter Stegen was confronted by the Spanish media after his coach’s comments, and defended the team’s attitude although he acknowledged that they could have done more. “It’s hard for me not to answer wrong. What this locker room does not lack is ambition and I don’t like people talking about this topic. No not at all. It couldn’t be and we tried until the end,” replied the German goalkeeper, evidencing his annoyance at the criticism received.
In an attempt to soften the situation, Xavi Hernández qualified his statements at the press conference, indicating that, more than a lack of ambition, the team lacked more belief in its proposal and greater faith. “The word perhaps is not ambition but rather believing more in what we are doing. We have lacked that point of determination to say ‘let’s go for the game’, that’s why today’s feeling is one of disappointment,” acknowledged the Barcelona coach.
Finally, Xavi regretted the lost opportunity to “punch the table” in the fight for the title, but stressed the importance of moving forward. “It’s a point and we have to continue,” he concluded, looking to the future with the hope of improving and recovering the lost ground in the race for the championship.
Today Barcelona is third in the league behind Girona and eight points behind the leader, Real Madrid. Next Friday they will take the field again to face Mallorca in what will be the match prior to the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Napoli, with whom they tied 1-1 in the first leg.
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