Xavi talks Araujo, Pedri, Roque, Yamal after Celta Vigo 1-2 Barcelona: “We should be in 1st place in La Liga”
Barcelona narrowly escaped with all three points today as they took on Celta Vigo away from home for gameweek 25 in La Liga. While the performance was lifeless, a win here was of huge importance.
Not only were Barça coming off a disheartening 3-3 draw against Granada, but will also travel to Italy to take on Napoli in the Champions League round of 16 first leg on Wednesday, so a victory today should have a huge confidence-booster.
“Today, we competed much better than we did against Granada,” Xavi said about the game, as quoted by AS.
“We played well, without suffering in defense, but we did not create enough chances. We did not do well in the final third.”
Xavi reiterated their finishing issues, that have been prominent all season, suggesting that if they were scoring a lot more of their chances, the table would have looked better.
“According to Big Data, we should be in 1st place considering the amount of chances we create on average.”
“We got penalized by our defensive mistake yet again.”
As for the Napoli game, Xavi said, “I have good sensations ahead of Wednesday’s match. The teams’s attitude was very good.”
“This win is great for our condifence. We did more good things than bad things.”
The Spaniard chose to start Vitor Roque as the left-winger tonight instead of continuing with the three-midfielder setup. The Brazilian was eventually subbed off before the hour-mark.
“With VItor Roque we attacked very well. He gives us a lot of depth,” Xavi said about his performance.
“Vitor Roque lacked clarity in the final third, as did the rest of the team.”
And as far as Lamine Yamal is concerned, the 16-year-old started and played his seventh consecutive 90, assisting the goal today and then drawing the penalty for the winner.
“Lamine played very well, he made the difference again. He’s only 16, but he competes very well, like Cubarsí too.”
Xavi also gave updates on Ronald Araujo and Pedri, confirming that neither of the two are injured, and should be available for the Napoli clash.
“There were no injuries today. Neither Araujo nor Pedri are injured. They’re fine.”
“Football is unfair in general. Celta made a great effort without any reward to show from it. However, if we didn’t win today it would also be unfair. I really think we deserved the three points,” Xavi concluded.
