“It’s a hard day to digest”

The Barça from Xavi He fell in San Mames and in less than two weeks two titles have escaped. “Honestly, I think that Athletic has played a great game”, said the culé coach, who pointed out that “we have tried and it has cost us a lot to progress. They have defended very well and we have not matched the intensity. They have been superior and I have seen a Athletic very strong. While he later added: “San Mamés demands the maximum from you and we had talked about it. They have beaten us by intensity, if you don’t equal them in that… I have seen an excellent Athletic, worked, organized, very well physically”.

Despite this, the coach from Egar was left with the attitude of his own, who never lowered their ratios. “Pedri’s goal gave us wings, and then the penalty play. Two titles have escaped. They are being hard days because things don’t work out. There is no other option but to continue believing in this project. We leave our skin and no results arrive ”. In addition, he encouraged his team to persist: “We have to continue training to dominate the games, play in the opposite field.”

Continuing with your explanations, Xavi Hernandez again appealed to fate. “In moments of heads or tails, we always have tails and we have to change this dynamic. They are two hard blows, two lost titles. We have to keep trying, there is no other”, he declared resigned.

And it was not only the elimination in the round of 16. “It’s a difficult day to digest because the tie also leaves us with injured players”. Ansu Fati left crying and Pedri asked for the change before finishing the extra time. Also Alba and Piqué, as revealed by the coach, ended up with discomfort. “Pedri It doesn’t seem like anything important, we’ll see Ansu who was affected, to see the diagnosis”.

Xavi did not want to talk about failure. “I don’t like the word if there is, it’s that we’re going to learn. We still have two wars left that we are going to fight to the end: LaLiga and the Europa League”.

United in the Dembélé case

The Barcelona coach also spoke about the Ousmane Dembélé case, who stayed in Barcelona after not accepting the renewal offer. “Dembélé is a decision of the club, of all of us, that we are united. No more. And I don’t think it affected the game,” he insisted.

Finally, he did not want to give his opinion on the penalty given to Alba. “I’m not going to value the work of the referee, I value mine as a coach and that of the team, I don’t gain anything by talking about referees,” he concluded.

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