🎙️ Xavi ahead of #AlmeriaBarça: "We cannot get into Rubi's head. He has two alternatives: play with 4 or 5 defenders. It'll cost us. At home, they're good and have scored many points. After the defeat in Girona, I think they'll defend a little more. We must be dominant."
🎙️ Xavi: "It will be a game of patience and calm. We have to learn from these games. We can't keep an eye on Thursday, even if it's a Clásico and a Cup semi-final. We have to be focused and prepared to compete tomorrow. We will think about the Clásico on Monday."
🎙️ Xavi: "You always have to think positively, I think the way we lost we didn't deserve it, we deserved a little more with the game we played, but we don't have to think about it anymore, now let's focus 200% on what's left."
🎙️ Xavi: "Dembélé is doing very well, he's doing a lot of work. He's not 100% yet, but he's relatively close to returning to the group. His sensations will mark his return depending on how he feels he will return sooner or later, we don't want to force it."
🎙️ Xavi: "Winning the League would be a great season or a very good season... We have the illusion of achieving success... with the League and the Cup, plus the Super Cup already won, it would be a very good season."
🎙️ Xavi: "We always think about having a competitive team that can offer you alternatives. This year we have a very good team, but the club always needs to strengthen itself to be even more competitive."
🎙️ Xavi: "Laporta's message is that this will continue, that we have other objectives. The biggest disappointment this season was, frankly, the loss in the Champions League. The Europa League event also hurts, because it always hurts at a club like Barça to lose a title."
🎙️ Xavi: "We hate losing, but this continues. We need to get up. Yesterday the sun was shining again. Today too, although it is a bit cloudier. We have to keep going."
🎙️ Xavi: "We have to be proud of how we fought, of how we approached the game. When you play against a team the size of United, in excellent form, you can lose, that's normal. They're frustrated too."
🎙️ Xavi: "Physically, we are the team that's in the best shape. We run more, with more intensity, more rhythm. I think we're in very good shape physically, competing well, and everyone is working for the team. There is no negotiation about effort and what is done on the field."
🎙️ Xavi: "We'll try not to be influenced by it in the competition. We are very well positioned, and we are going to think positively about it... Knowing that tomorrow we have a difficult and complicated opponent: go for the three points."
🎙️ Xavi: "Araújo is available, he's 100%. Ansu had a concussion during training yesterday, but nothing else... he won't be there tomorrow, but we hope to have him on Thursday, I think he'll be there."
🎙️ Xavi: "Lewandowski? I haven't spoken to any player in particular. I think the match was very well planned, but that's football. Lewandowski is in excellent shape again. The players are also frustrated with the elimination."
🎙️ Xavi on Lewandowski's mood: "He is aware that this is a medium/long-term project. He knows where he stands. We've made a change from last year to here... Right now, we have one title, but we want more. You see, we've played against extraordinary teams."
🎙️ Xavi: "There is no need to generalize. There's a game where we lose and they win it at a level that's not so physical but of tension, concentration, and it's minute 2 of the second half, they score a goal ... And that's it. The Manchester thing is already over. You must learn"
🎙️ Xavi: "The Madrid derby? A loss to Real Madrid in the derby can benefit us, of course, but that's something we cannot control. We have to do our job, but we will be watching what happens in the Madrid derby."
🎙️ Xavi: "The semi-final against Madrid is not a final like the Super Cup, it's not Europe... It's going to be an important game, but then comes the return game that I think will be even more important and decisive."
🎙️ Xavi: "I have read almost nothing about the defeat. You [journalists] have your job, you're more thrill seekers. We no longer pay attention to criticism, we accept it, and work to turn the tables. That's the way it is."
🎙️ Xavi: "I think Ferran Torres has made a click. I think he's gained a lot of confidence since Cádiz and Manchester. The other day at home was one of his best games at Barça and things went well in Manchester. I think he will be important."
🎙️Xavi: "I think Lewandowski is more in the system of the four midfielders, but I feel like we have to look for him more in the area, the feeling of the last pass is what we miss."
🎙️ Xavi: "For me, it's not true that Busquets isn't at the level in high-level competitions. If they put you on the field and you go back and forth through transitions without dominating the game, not only Busquets suffers, but the entire team. You don't focus on one person."
🎙️ Xavi: "Sergi Roberto can adapt to everything. He played a good game in Manchester, especially in the first half... A player who can play as a right-back or as a left-winger gives you a lot."
🎙️ Xavi, on the controversial celebration of Garnacho, who mocked Pedri and Barça: "When the player is so happy, anger often comes up, various injustices that have come to you, that everyone expresses as it comes out... sometimes empathy is lacking."
🎙️ Xavi, nuances about the celebrations of Garnacho or Vinicius: "You are happy, but you have to respect your rival. I think it's better to celebrate with the team, in a group, without provoking. But everyone gets what comes out of these moments."
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